The Greenhouse
by Blondi89
Summary: Spring holds many new beginnings, but this spring might entitle her with more than she thought. AU NarutoXHinata set in college.
1. Prologue

**The Greenhouse**

Summary: After a few months of college Hinata comes clean to her father that she wants to become a teacher and not head of the family business like he wanted. Upset from the argument with her father she takes a walk on campus and discovers the college's small greenhouse. She feels immediate comfort there and meets Minato Namikaze, the botanist professor who becomes like a second father to her. For months she helps Professor Namikaze maintain his greenhouse and slowly learns about his son Naruto. She learns that he is madly in love with his girlfriend Sakura Haruno who breaks up with him four months before the end of the school year. When Naruto goes into a state of depression from having his heartbroken, Minato decides that he needs to do something productive and take care of his greenhouse with Hinata while he's away for a teacher conference. Will Hinata be able to cheer this stranger up in a week? And will she be able not to fall for him?

Rating: T for mild language

Pairings: NarutoXHinata, hint of NejiXTenten

Setup: AU set in college, Naruto and Hinata are 19

Length: Around 7 chapters

Warnings: None that I can think of

A/N: Though it was Sakura who broke up with Naruto I want to make one thing clear, this is NOT a Sakura bashing story. She broke up with him because she found out he was not her one, plain and simple.

Also plan for me to be updating weekly on Fridays. Please enjoy the story. :)

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Prologue

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The sidewalk was bare this morning. The sun was just now casting its face, chasing away the darkness of the night. It shed a beautiful array of oranges, pinks and yellows in the sky and revealed that there was no one around to witness this gorgeous painting of the atmosphere. The burning star also exposed the shining droplets of water hanging on the grass and leaves from last night's rain. The rainfall was also public in the swishing sound her sneakers would make at her leisurely pace. She experienced the new day with her other sense, taking in the fragrance of the earth.

She loved spring.

It bought so much life to the planet after the frozen immobility of winter. And with the rush of life became new beginnings, new opportunities, and new chances to take. She had never been so optimistic about the season before, but with so many changes in her life as of late it felt good to start anew.

Taking the fork in the walk to the left, there was a small house made of glass there to greet her. A wave of comfort came to her at the sight. In just a few short months this home of exotic plants had became her sanctuary.

It had begun in the beginning of the school year, just two months into her freshman year of college, she had confronted her father. He had a strong desire for her to succeed in the family business; to become head of the corporation by earning a degree in business and law. It didn't take long to figure out that business was not where her heart laid. No, she wanted to help people. To inspire them and counsel them on a personal level, that's where she felt her true value.

She had found the hidden courage to tell her father that she wanted to be a teacher. The reaction had been what she expected. He was extremely disappointed with her decision and did nothing to hide it. Soon after the phone conservation ended, she ran out of her dorm room crying (not wanting to be a disturbance to her roommate in case she returned) and into the dead of night.

Looking back on it, being a young unprotected female wandering all alone at night was not the best decision. But at the time she felt like she had to detach from the world. To escape the unhappiness that was her life. Thankfully she found that refuge she was seeking that night. It had begun to downpour and she went out to the first sign of shelter. That shelter was a cozy little greenhouse used by the college.

It was odd, but she had felt an immediate sense of security in the holding. There was a small classroom when first stepping in, built for no more than twenty students. The teacher's desk was right in front of the only chalkboard, papers and mischievous items organized neatly on top. A stack of file cabinets were set in the corner of the small room, probably containing important documents.

On the opposite side of the room there was a door opened to the other half of the building. Curiosity had gotten to her and she ventured inside. She felt a sudden rush of warm air walking in and the sight before made her made her gasp in awe. The area was divided into two separate rooms with a lane going down the middle so you could enter the rooms in two ways. On her left the room was titled Desert. Traveling through the mildly-humid, cacti room she figured the other room had to be a climate-zone room. Coming before the second room and seeing it named Rainforest, she knew she had made a correct guess.

It was amazing and somewhat thrilling to be surrounded by these plants. They were organisms that thieved in places she had never been to, they had names she's never heard of. She was so enamored with the mysterious quality of them that she had forgotten about her earlier misery. And as relaxing and addicting as it was to be around the unique plants it faded when she saw an older man tending to one of them.

Fearing that she had come here unwelcomed she hoped to get out undetected. But that hope diminished when the man turned around to face her. The man seemed to be around the same age as her father but looked nothing like said man. He had sandy-blonde hair that stuck out in every direction, deep blue eyes and defined, handsome features. His bright smile seemed to edge away some of her fears of intrusion.

"Hello there, come to do some research?"

His deep voice did not sound the least bit intimidating and instead was curious.

"No-o, just lo-oking."

"I see, have an interest in botany?"

"No, I d-don't know an-nything about plants."

"Haha, neither do my students."

The rumble of his laugh and shine in his eyes made it absolutely impossible for her not to smile. There weren't many she felt at ease with. They were either put off by her stutter or her shy nature which in turn made her nerves escalate. But he seemed like the type of man who would be opened to all and she admired that.

"I'm Professor Namikaze, but seen as how you're not one of my students you can call me Minato."

"I'm Hinata Hyuuga."

"Well Hinata, would you like to learn something about plants?"

"Yes, yes I would."

For months, she would return to the greenhouse. She helped Minato tend to the plants and in return he would teach her something interesting about the foreign substance. It was such an addictive unwinding hobby that she eventually learned how to properly care for each of the plants. Minato still had much to teach her, but they had begun to talk about un-related stuff.

She learned that he had been married at one point and had a son. Though he rarely ever talked about his deceased wife, he would always talk about his son, Naruto Uzumaki. Named after his mother who died during childbirth, he was determined to become an acclaimed chef. It was his childhood dream and at nineteen he was finally actively pursuing it by attending a presage culinary school. From what it sounded like he had a great deal of support from his large group of friends.

She could always see the proud gleam of parenthood in Minato's eyes whenever he talked about his son. Even referring back to Naruto's prankster years he would talk about it with a loving tone that was reserved just for him. Day by day, she would learn more about the boy who wanted to cook and day by day the more she wanted to meet him. He sounded so vibrant and full of life, someone who would want to put a smile on your face because he genuinely wanted to see you happy. But she never voiced this want. She didn't want to impose herself anymore than she already was.

She had already hinted to this professor about the shaky relationship she had with her family and though he had been open with his tale, she probably knew more about his family than any other of the faculty members on campus. It led her to this dangerous thought, a thought that this man was probably more concerned with her own individual wants than her own father. That Minato had become the father she had wanted and needed all along.

It was almost ridiculous to think that a man who was a stranger five months ago could become more of a father to her than the actual one who had raised her from birth. But at the same time…it wasn't. She never saw her father much in her life and when she did it was always a formal meeting. They did not have chats about nothing in particular, or share an activity together or even ask how the other's day had been. She had always craved that father-daughter relationship and she was finally getting it, except with a man who was not at all related to her.

She might have dwelled on this in the past, but it was spring. It was time for new starts and as such she was going to cherish this new-found relationship rather than concern herself with old ones. She felt proud of herself, something that she could never remember feeling. Her fresh confidence must have glowed, for Minato had directly said something when she walked into the greenhouse.

"My, what are we so happy about? A boy perhaps?"

Her cheeks burned at the light-heartened comment. It had taken some time to get used to the teasing from this man, but she surprisingly enjoyed it.

"N-no, it's just a nice day is all."

"Right, a nice day."

She made no comment and her blush darkened under embarrassment. Minato gave her a kind smile that said he would stop and handed to her a dark green container with a sprout on the end.

"Here, you can start on the east side of the Rainforest and I'll start on the west."

She gave him a small smile before taking the offered item and getting to work. After making sure all the plants were given the right amount of water and were in proper health, they double-checked the temperature gages in each room. It was at this point that Minato asked her a seriously put question.

"Hinata, I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"Of course, what is it?"

The man before her paused for a second before he turned to her and motioned that the conversation be taken in the classroom. She took a seat in one of the many open chairs while Minato stood in front of her, leaning against his desk.

"You know Naruto and how he's been recently."

She gave a sad nod though she knew it wasn't a question. Naruto's attitude recently had been extremely upsetting. She remembered that one of Naruto's describing features when she first heard of him was that he was madly in love with his girlfriend Sakura Haruno. The girl herself sounded amazing. She was talented, a genius in medicine, pretty, funny and a bunch of other positive things that Naruto had said to his father. It was strange though, when Minato himself had described her. He seemed almost off-put by the girl, but she was sure that he supported his son's decision fully.

Two months ago, Sakura had dumped Naruto because she had fallen in love with another man. When she heard the news she had been glad that the girl had not continued the relationship when Sakura knew her heart was not in it, but at the same time she had been unusually furious. Naruto had loved the girl dearly and now with his heart broken he was not his usual self. She had broken his sprit and now not his friends or even his father could snap him out of his depressed state. She felt mad at this girl for doing what she did.

That feeling was startling to her, especially considering she had never even met Naruto. But with how much she already knew about him it felt like they were already friends. She wondered if Minato ever talked about her to Naruto.

"Well, I figured that he should start moving on and do something productive."

She was a little shocked by the finality of his tone.

"Are you s-sure that's a go-od idea?"

He gave a bitter laugh that sounded strange coming from him.

"No, but he's my son. And I need to teach him how to get back up when he falls down."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I'm going out to a conference meeting soon so I'm going to be gone for a week. I need someone to take care of the greenhouse while I'm gone and usually I would get one of my buddies from the staff to do it, but I thought it would be better if Naruto did it to keep his mind off of things."

"It would keep him busy," her brow scrunched in confusion, "but what does this have to do with me?"

"Clever as ever I see."

Redness came to her face that was more due to the proud smile of Minato rather than his words.

"It's been awhile since Naruto has helped out with the greenhouse and knowing him, he'll probably lose any instructions I leave behind. I was wondering if you could help him out. Make sure he's not killing any of my plants."

Minato's eyes locked onto hers and softened in a pleading way.

"It probably wouldn't hurt if he made a new friend while he's at it."

Her eyes turned from his gaze and she gave a small nod of agreement. She saw Minato's face lit up and she hid her face by looking out the far right window.

She didn't want him to see the excitement in her eyes.

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**_Disclaimer:_ This will be posted once throughout the entire story, I do NOT own Naruto. Big shocker.**


	2. Chapter One

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Chapter One

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Long, ivory fingers threaded through dark indigo locks. Twisting and weaving the soft, shiny hair into an intricate pattern, the fingers continued in a set rhythm. Stretching the elastic band on the slim wrist, the single, long braid was completed by securing the end.

She rarely ever tied back her mid-back length hair, but it was a good way to ease her nerves as well as kill time. Naruto would show up any minute now to help her take care of his father's plants. She was both anxious and thrilled to meet this boy she's heard so much of; she had to do something to calm her shaky hands.

Glancing up to the standard-looking clock on the wall, she could see that the father was right about his son. He had warned her that Naruto had a habit of being late and it was already fifteen minutes later than their scheduled meeting time.

She was about to unlock her tresses and start braiding again when a noise from outside came to her ears. Instantly, she bounded up from her chair and stood to greet the person who was now turning the doorknob. A rush of spring air blew into the mildly stuffy greenhouse and her heart seemed to stop at the sight before her.

Minato had showed her a picture of his boy when he was six years old. The picture referred back to one of Minato's favorite father-son moments and he always had it on hand. The photographic memory looked indeed special with the way they were both laughing and it seemed that even at the age of six Naruto bore a striking resemblance to his father. But the picture that she had seen had been of a boy, the person before her was indeed a man.

Tall and strapping, Naruto seemed to take command with just his mere presence. His posture and walk screamed complete confidence, but his hands were uneasy in the way they gripped the door. The unruly hair was like his father's but brighter and more electrifying, similar to his stunningly blue eyes. And the smile that came to his face when he saw her revealed a childish side to him that seemed like fun was what you would have.

Her heart that had stopped before seemed to come at full speed with that smile. It hammered hard in her chest and she was sure that all the blood her heart had pumped had went to her cheeks.

"Hey! You must be Hinata, I'm Naruto."

An inaudible sound had come from her lips. Mortified that she could not respond, her blush turned a darker red.

"Sorry that I'm late, I had to carpool with my roommates today and I had to practically drag them out of bed this morning."

Thankfully he didn't realize or acknowledge her poor attempt at a greeting. He simply shut the front door with the back of his hand, not hindering his one-way direction towards her. Briefly explaining his excusal he strode his way towards her in his dark denim jeans and casual orange (if orange is casual) t-shirt. It was when he was a few steps away that she embarrassingly realized that she should respond.

"I-it's f-fine. I didn't m-mind."

He gave a smile that could put the sun to shame.

"Cool."

She bowed her head, not being able to take in the beauty of that smile all at once. How could he, a man she just met, have such an effect on her? She's never blushed so much from the presence of a man.

"So, what's first?"

The question snapped her out of her confusing thoughts and to the situation they were in.

"Oh, umm t-the wa-ater."

Clumsily she made her way to the laid out buckets of water. She tried to ignore the way she tripped over her own feet and how unstable she must look in this man's eyes. Delicately taking the handles of each of the containers, she turned on the edge of her heal and walked towards Naruto.

"We h-have to m-make s-sure the p-plants have e-enough water."

Soon as the words uttered out of her mouth, she unconsciously looked at him to see if he heard. It was immediately a mistake, because as soon her eyes locked onto the sparkling blue color of his she felt the slim plastic handle slip through her fingers. A splash of cool water, drenching the bottom of her light blue pants came soon after.

"Oh no."

"Oh shit! Here let me help you."

Naruto quickly drove for the dropped bucket, savaging what little amount of water was left in it. She felt helpless as she watched him do so.

"I'm sorry."

Looking up, he gave her a smile and rose up with the bucket in hand.

"No need to be sorry, it was an accident. Happens to me all the time, lucky it was just water. The hoe is outside right?"

Afraid that even her tongue could cause another disaster, she nodded her head. He gave her a quick smile before leaving to the open world.

She prayed that when he came back, she wouldn't again make a fool of herself.

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The feel of soil burying itself under her fingernails ensued as she tilted her hand and molded the soft earth into a ball. The dirt felt moist, and with the way the absorbed water cooled her palm she knew the moisture level of the soil was where it should be.

Testing the soil-moisture content with your hands was a common practice but it was only efficient if done with experience. Hinata had used a tensiometer when first watering the plants. The instrument helped her to know how thirsty a plant really was. Now her hands have replaced the device and she knew just when to hydrate the greenery.

Letting the soil drop from her hand to the ground, she stood up from her crouched position to move to the next. She let her eyes wander and catch the tall blonde man sitting nearly ten feet away. His hands, dark with land, massaged what was clasped. Having Minato as his father he didn't need an instrument. He had helped take care of the plants when he was younger and many a times Minato had recounted to her the adventures they had digging through the dirt in search of harmful pests.

It was because Naruto was knowledgeable in what he was doing that they were able to go through the desert room as fast as they did. Plants that hail from the desert don't need as much liquid as the ones from the rainforest and because Minato had irrigated them yesterday they had moved onto the next room quickly.

Naruto had asked her many questions about the newer plants while in the mildly humid room and due to her earlier embarrassment she either kept her answers short or shook her head. But when they switched rooms he became silent. It worried her that he had interpreted her reactions as a dislike of his presence. That she was only tolerating him and was offended by his company. Though the rudeness was unintentional, it still filled her heart with guilt.

Looking at the curves of his face, she finally saw him without that blinding smile. Minato said that when he was depressed he would put on a happy façade for the world and would only frown behind closed doors. Though she had the piece of information before the smile he publicized had knocked her off her feet and made her breathless. It wasn't until seeing as he is now that she remembered he is suffering heartbreak.

It only made her scold herself more. Here was Naruto trying to be friendly with her and she couldn't get over her shy barrier to perhaps make his life a little easier. She needs to make better effort.

As soon as the determining thought entered her head, blue eyes had turned to her in question. It was with some mortification that she realized she had been staring at the man but resolute not to turn back into her shell she spoke.

"N-naruto, m-may I ask wh-hen you were h-here last?"

Her stutter was horrible she knew, but she praised herself for asking the question.

"Here? Oh well let me think…"

Lifting a tan finger, he tapped his finger on his chin in a thinking position. It almost made her smile and forget about her blush.

"It had to have been sometime last June, after graduation. Wow. It's been awhile."

His lips turned into a sheepish smile, putting her heart to slight ease.

"Oh well, it d-doesn't s-sound that l-long."

"Yeah, but considering that I used to always help out here it feels like forever. Culinary school has kept me really busy; I barely have time to visit. It's a good thing you came along to help out. Never met a girl who actually_ enjoyed_ getting her hands dirty, you're pretty cool."

She couldn't help but let her shyness take a hold. Never before had an attractive man called her cool. It set her heart aflutter as she uttered (and stuttered) a soft thank you. To keep her mind off of the compliment lest she faint, she thought back to what he said before. It was true that Naruto had seen less of his dad, Minato had mentioned it before. He said that he missed his boy but that if Naruto hadn't of went off on his own and still clung to his daddy's leg then he would have had to of hit him over the head with a frying pan. The comment had made her giggle back then as it did now which perked Naruto's interest.

"What? What are you laughing about?"

"I'm s-sorry, I j-just thought o-of something your f-father s-said about y-you."

The comment made Naruto spring from the ground and bound towards her, the moisture content of the soil forgotten.

"What? What did he say about me?"

She instantly clammed up when he came into her personal bubble. She was sure her face was on fire.

"Oh please tell me! If you do I'll tell you what he said about you."

The childish tone in his voice was not missed but it was the information that startled and warped her mind.

"He's t-talked a-about me?"

"Yeah! About how you met, your interests, your personality, what you want to do, your family, all that stuff."

She felt light-headed all of the sudden. She had no idea that Minato had ever spoken about her. Sure, she wondered but never knew. It should have been expected seen as how she knew so much of Naruto but still that was…

"T-that's e-everything."

"Well not everything, I still don't know anything about your friends."

"M-my friends?"

"Yeah! Who are your friends? What are they like?"

Shock took her form from not only the forwardness of the questions but the abrupt change of topic. Wasn't he just asking why she had giggled? His short attention span almost caused another giggle.

"W-well I s-suppose my f-first friend would be Neji."

"Neji huh? That name sounds familiar, he a family member?"

She had to blink at the question. She recalled only mentioning Neji once to Minato, how was Naruto able to recognize him?

"Y-yes, he's my c-cousin."

"Oh, so your friends with your cousin."

"That's n-not weird i-is it?"

Normally she did not find her close relationship with her older cousin odd, but his statement made her re-think. Not many really knew or talked to their cousins, so it might be strange to call them a friend. But then again, not many cousins grew up in the same household.

"No! No it's not weird. I mean I sometimes wish I had more family members than my dad and the old pervert though I love them. It's cool that you could make friends with him. What about recent friends. Who you closest to now?"

"Oh, w-well I guess that w-would be m-my roommate Tenten."

"You're friends with your roommate? Cool! I'm friends with mine too, though they do shit to help out. Well I guess Chouji does help clean but those other two are useless. So what's she like?"

It took a moment for her brain to finally grasp all the words. She's never talked to someone whose speech pace was so fast, almost as fast as the topic change. She really had to be on her toes when talking with him.

"W-well she is s-somewhat clean, she's s-smart and n-nice and a l-little tough."

A little was putting it mildly. When she first started to go to college her father had hired a personal security guard to watch her from the shadows. He believed some of the rival companies would take advantage of the future head being on her own. It was extremely embarrassing especially when she tried to tell Tenten, the girl she just met, that the man in the alleyway wasn't some creep that was trying to kill them. Tenten didn't really believe her and had ended up giving the guard a bloody nose when he tried to get too close.

Her father had been impressed by Tenten's self-defense skills and had, to her humiliation, offered Tenten the job of guarding his daughter. Ironically it was when the brunette had turned down the money that their friendship began. And thankfully there were no guards to speak of in her life.

"She sounds really awesome. Like a little bit of each of my roommates."

"I r-remember Minato m-mentioning them. What a-are they l-like?"

"Oh them, well I guess they're alright…"

If she had heard the sentence without the image in front of her she would have assumed that he had a casual relationship with the people he lived with. But due to her ability to see, she saw the huge smile and happiness in his eyes. The emotions displayed showed that not only did he care a lot for these men but that he acquired his father's teasing manner.

"Kiba's been my best bud since high school. We got an apartment together last summer that was close to both our schools. He actually goes here, but I doubt you'll be in any of his classes seen as how he wants to be a vet. He loves animals especially his mutt Akamaru, who both eat all my food."

She couldn't help the smile when he shook his head at his friend's antics.

"Anyway, on the first day of class I was paired up with Chouji. He wants to be chef too and I got to say he's pretty good. I met his best friend Shikamaru a couple weeks in. He's the laziest person I ever meant but has a crazy IQ. They've been buddies since they were in diapers, which is pretty cool. They were living together in an apartment complex near us when they were kicked out in November."

"K-kicked out?"

"The guy below them decided it would be a good idea to start a meth lab. The entire complex had to be evacuated for a week so the police could make sure it wasn't a communal thing."

"Oh my."

"I know, but the good news was that there was enough room for them at mine and Kiba's place. And after they started living with us, I don't know it just kind of clicked and they've stayed there since."

She couldn't help but to smile in response to his sunny smile. Minato had told her that Naruto cared deeply for his friends, so much so that they were like family to him. She could tell from the way he talked that was true. It was probably why he was so eager to ask about her friends.

"They s-sound like w-wonderful people Naruto. I wish I c-could make f-friends as easy as y-you can."

From the first time since they met she saw his forehead wrinkle from confusion.

"What do you mean? Didn't you make friends easily with Neji and Tenten?"

Ashamed she bowed her head.

"Neji d-didn't like m-me when we w-were kids and I j-just now g-got comfortable w-with Tenten."

"Oh, well what about your friends from high school?"

"I didn't g-go, I h-had a pr-private tutor."

"What about outside of school? I'm sure you did something like a sport or play an instrument."

"I d-did some a-activities but it w-was private."

"Really?"

She quietly nodded her head. She knew she had lived a sheltered life, it become all too apparent when she came to college. All the people and places had scared her at first but after the initial culture shock she began to adjust to it and then love it. She wished she had went to a school before now, she might not have turned out so shy if she did. But her father demanded the best and the best included her own personal teacher and isolation to focus on her studies.

"Was that by choice or did your father make you?"

She bit her lip at the question. Nobody, not even Tenten and Minato had asked her that question.

"My f-father thought it w-was best f-for the company."

"Wow, he sounds like an ass."

The statement was a shocker and it had her looking at him with wide eyes. He just shrugged in response.

"Sorry, but he does. Not letting you have any opportunities to make friends is just wrong. Did he at least let you date?"

Cheeks flaming red she shook her head no. Her father was very strict in the rule that she couldn't date until she was eighteen and like the good girl she is she followed that rule. It seemed she was a tad too obedient because even after she turned eighteen she still had not been on a date; though that was more due to her nervous nature around the opposite sex. How embarrassing, to be nineteen and have never of kissed!

"Well if it makes you feel better, dating isn't what it's all cracked up to be."

Curiously she gazed at him.

"You gotten try and look nice, have to spend money, be on your best behavior, have to ask all these questions, you get really nervous and start to sweat a lot and by the end of it you hope that she won't…"

Cobalt blue eyes turned to sapphire as a sadness she has never fathomed radiated from his soul. It tore at her heart.

"I'm so s-sorry, I d-didn't mean t-to…"

Those beautiful eyes turned to her and the sorrow in them began to dissipate.

"What are you apologizing for? I was the one who bought it up."

"I k-know but I'm s-still sorry."

A little smile tugged at his lips.

"You _shouldn't _apologize."

And the word slipped before she could get a grip on it.

"Sorry."

Humiliated with herself and her lack of control on her tongue, she felt herself turn a hundred different shades of red before she covered her face with her hands. She heard a deep laughter one that was spontaneous and loud, it made her peek between her slim, dirtied fingers. Wait dirtied? Snapping her hands away as if her cheeks had burned them she could clearly see that most of dirt that had been on her hands was now on her face.

That made Naruto laugh louder.

"That should teach you not to say sorry."

Each word had been said between gasps of laughter, but she could understand the statement. To try to save her dignity she began to frantically wipe her face off with the long sleeves of her dark sweatshirt. By the time she had finished scrubbing her face Naruto's fit of hysterics had ended.

"I would say sorry for laughing, but I want to make sure you learned your lesson."

Still shaken up from her episode she didn't give a response.

"I'll make a deal with you though."

There was an apologetic tone to his voice that made her blink up at him. When did he get so close? Her pulse was easily going a hundred miles per hour.

"I don't know about you but I'm not ready to get back out on that dating field yet. _But_ I do want somebody to be there and put up with me. My friends are great and all but they don't like to listen to me gripe. So if it's not too much trouble perhaps you could."

She felt her pale eyes stare at him as her brain processed his offer. Was he offering her friendship?

"As payment I'll listen to you complain about that jerk of a father as well as any other idiot."

He held out his large right hand still covered in earth.

"So what do say Hinata? Think you can be my friend?"

She looked at the outstretched hand between them and then to his hopeful smile. Excitement coursed through her, tingling her skin and causing the nerve of her face to twitch her lips into a smile. Raising her own right hand she let her hand be engulfed by his warm one.

Both their smiles widen.

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A/N: I forgot to warn you all before the story that I have never taken care or assisted in taking care of a greenhouse. I apologize if my information is incorrect, I tried to do the best I could based off the research I did. I hope everyone has enjoyed the story thus far and please do leave a review. :)

P.S. I just recently posted a team 8 one-shot. If any of you are a fan of the team, please check it out.


	3. Chapter Two

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Chapter Two

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A rush of warm air hit her. The settle breeze that blew in lifted her loose dark tresses from the sides of her porcelain face to the air around her. The scent of newly bloomed flowers touched her petite nose as well as the powerful smell of freshly cut grass. She let the feel of morning consume her for a few more moments before retreating from the wooden cabinet that she had to lean over to allow new air into the room.

The new day was considerably warmer than the morning yesterday. Not too hot in the way one needed to continually hydrate but warm enough for her to expel her sweatshirt for a plain lavender shirt. Taking in delight this wonderful weather she deduced that it would be best to let open the windows of the classroom. The once stuffy room seemed to take in one big breath of air as she changed the position of the glass. She decided to breathe along with it.

She was finding such enjoyment from the season. She had never truly appreciated it before and now that she had, she took in every living moment. Her mind wondered if her new friend took such pleasure in the changing environment.

Unconsciously her pink lips turned into a soft smile. Her new friend. She never imagined that Naruto would want her friendship so openly. Well, she had imagined but never dreamed for it to be true. They had talked casually after the deal, using yes no questions as they finished their work. It was easy to figure out that his favorite color was orange and that he preferred dogs to cats. It had been those silly questions that people first ask a new acquaintance. But she knew she would remember everyone of his answers.

She wanted to be a good friend to him and not just because she found him so strikingly handsome. He was enduring, thoughtful, loyal and in summary a good man. She knew. And not because of the stories she had heard from his father but because of woman's instinct. Though she did not pry on it, she had an excellent sense of judgment. She could unintentionally read people and their intents behind their actions. She knew Naruto was genuine.

She wanted to be a good friend to him because she knew he would do the same in return.

"Hey what's so interesting?"

Hearing the unexpected voice caused her to turn to the speaker in surprise. Naruto stood next to her wearing a blue shirt with undefined red letters. The blue cotton material made his eyes come alive, even more than the day before. They twinkled at her with an equally joyful smile.

"N-nothing, I w-was just daydreaming."

How he entered into the building without the sound catching her ears would be lost on her. She didn't dread on it as Naruto's blue eyes shifted towards the window she had just been staring out of.

"Geez it's such a nice day I wish there were more like these."

Her lips turned into a contented smile. It was extremely nice to share a love with someone even if it was considered small.

"B-but if t-there were more l-like these we w-wouldn't love t-them so much."

The attention that had been focused on the activities of outside turned back around to her. His eyes connected with hers and she had a good inkling that she would never get used to that blue intensity.

"Yeah I guess you're right."

They shared a silent smile to the agreement of the weather. She found it to be nice, but with only a day of friendship the silence quickly grew awkward. Thankfully, Naruto seemed to know how to get out of it.

"So we doing the same thing as yesterday?"

"Y-yes."

Her cheeks quickly grew rosy as she followed Naruto to the already filled buckets. She hoped that after a longer friendship their color would diminish. It was quite embarrassing to be blushing all the time.

"You take the west, I'll take the east?"

Quietly she nodded her head to the plan. A brilliant smile was flashed her way before Naruto disappeared into the next room. She took the plumpness of her bottom lip in between her teeth, briefly wondering if today was going to be just as great as yesterday before striding in after her peer.

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"So what made you decide to be a teacher?"

Roughly textured dirt was patted down to its original location as she contemplated a good answer to the question asked. They had been querying each other based on the information Minato had given them as they worked through the desert room. It started out with interests that they each took in their spare time, like how she enjoys reading and his obsession with video games and then slowly moved to their career dreams. Naruto was of course the first to begin the questions.

"W-well I've always l-liked kids. I used to w-watch my p-private tutor Kurenai's son. He's o-only four n-now and I c-can't help but l-love him. He's always trying n-new things and I've always h-had the desire to help t-teach him. I guess he's why I want t-to teach."

Shyly she gazed away from the dirt special to the heat-tolerant organisms to the man working across the room.

"W-what about you? Why d-do you want t-to cook?"

She saw his slightly chapped lips turn into a small smile as he threaded his fingers through the earth.

"Well I wouldn't say that I have quite that great of reason unlike you."

Her ivory eyes lowered upon that statement and a reddish hue took to her cheeks. She tried to listen to his timbre voice rather than get wrapped up in the compliment.

"I decided to be a chef around eleven or twelve. Everyone had to take home economics in middle school; I thought I would hate it. But when I had to bake a chocolate cake I couldn't help but get into it. I became obsessed with cooking in that class and my teacher Iruka saw it. He began introducing me to some different recipes as well as teaching me about some of the acclaimed chefs and their dishes. It was after that I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

She felt herself smile throughout his tale. A picture of a younger him, donned in an apron and flour weaving through the kitchen, taking measurements of foods with concentrated fashion appeared in her mind's eye. The scene was adorable and she couldn't help but think of the times Minato had complained of Naruto making a mess of his kitchen.

Naruto had found the true love of his life.

"It's w-wonderful that you h-had found y-your passion so early. I b-bet you're an f-fantastic cook."

She took a quick peek at her friend and was alarmed to see a faint hint of pink dusted on his cheeks. She didn't think it was possible for her praise to embarrass him so.

"Oh well I'm better than when I was twelve. If you want I could cook something for you to try."

Gorgeous blue eyes looked at her with uncertainty. She felt her heart beat pick up when she pondered that doubt was due to a want of approval on her part for his culinary skills.

"I would l-love that."

The room became sun-drenched with the smile he presented.

"Great! I would love to hear your opinion. My dad and the old pervert are always giving me the same ones."

"O-old p-pervert?"

She had heard the title the day before but had been so caught up in the conversation that she immediately dismissed it.

"Oh! Sorry I was talking about Jiraiya, my godfather. I called him a pervert my whole life, I sometimes forget it's not his name."

Jiraiya, she had heard the name before. He had been a mentor to Minato his whole life and he had some…questionable behavior as described by the botanist professor.

"Do you g-get along with Jiraiya?"

She already knew from Minato that he had a steady relationship with his son, but she didn't really know of the relationship between godfather and godson.

"When we're not fighting but that's like ninety percent of the time."

"Y-you fight?"

"Not like that. It's like a love fight. He does something perverted and I get on his case for being a dirty old man. It's what we do."

"O-oh."

She didn't really understand. She was confused on how fighting with a loved one could be a good thing but she tried not to dwell on it. Love was not meant to be understood.

"He really is a good guy once you get past the perveryness, he helped out my parents when they first got together."

Dark indigo bangs bounced as she snapped her head up in disbelief. Though indirect he had mentioned his mother. She hesitated in knowing if that was an opening to ask about the woman who gave birth to him. Like him she had lost her mother long ago and knew firsthand how sensitive the topic was. Biting her lip she took a chance.

"Minato s-showed me a p-picture of h-her, he s-seemed to really l-love her, she w-was beautiful."

Her voice shook horribly and she tried to keep an undetected eye on the man. He had been silent and still as statue at first, but then a sad smile adored his face when she mentioned the truth of his mother's beauty. She waited with baited breath for what he would say.

"Yeah she was. My dad says that I'm a lot like her. Loud, overconfident, always looking for trouble, we even share the same weird obsession with ramen. It would have been cool to know her."

Her heart seized with the understanding one could only feel when they lose the opportunity of spending time with a loved one.

"P-people say t-that I'm a lot like m-my mom too."

Naruto became fixated on her with confused eyes.

"My m-mom died when I w-was seven. She h-had a lot of h-heart problems, they j-just couldn't help h-her anymore."

Their eyes locked for moment; both of them sharing an unsaid bond for what they experienced. She found it unbelievably refreshing to share this news without getting pity in return.

"So how are you like your mom?"

"She w-was very kind and s-she loved h-helping people. She also h-had a love f-for reading."

"She does sound like you."

A smile graced her lips. She didn't know if he meant it as flattery but she took it as the highest kind.

"Don't you have a sister?"

"A-a yes her n-name is Hanabi."

"Is she a lot like you and your mom?"

A frown formed on her usually smiling lips. Though she loved her sister whose age was five years shorter than hers she could not honestly say that Hanabi was kind and generous. Her spirit was wild and her soul was hard as steel. She didn't let anyone get in her way of what she felt was her destiny. It came all too apparent in winning over Father's approval. She was the perfect daughter in their father's eye and she worked hard to uphold that image. Her fierce attitude and commanding tone outshined her, the older sister.

Hanabi was her complete opposite.

"N-no, Hanabi is m-more like Father."

"That jerk?"

"Naruto!"

The exclamation slipped off her tongue before she could even process it. Quickly she slapped a hand over her mouth from her impulsiveness. Of course after this action she realized she had made the same mistake as yesterday and quickly tried to rub the dirt away from the lower half of her face with her bare arms. Thankfully Naruto saw none of it.

"I'm sorry, but he really does sound like a jerk. Is your sister really like him? Cause it would suck to live with two people like that."

"Hanabi isn't t-too much like F-Father and Father i-isn't so bad."

"I thought he didn't approve of you wanting to be a teacher."

Silently she chewed the inside of her mouth as her mind slipped to the memories of her father scolding her for leaving the family business to teach. Yes that time had been bad but after their argument that had left her running with tears pouring down her face; the results were not so horrible.

"No, b-but he is s-still paying for m-my tuition."

It had been different than what she thought. She had fully believed that her father would either force her to continue a business degree or stop her college funding all together. But he had taken her by surprise when he offered to pay for her teaching degree on some declared terms.

"Just the tuition?"

"Y-yes, teachers d-don't make a lot o-of money so he w-wants me to learn how t-to manage on m-my own now. I h-have to s-start paying for m-my own rent, clothes a-and food this summer."

Learning to pay for herself was going to be difficult especially when she came from a higher class family. But she knew that the blood, sweat and tears would be worth it. She was finally achieving something on her own and she thanked her father for helping her do so.

"Well I guess that makes sense, but still…he should be happy for you."

Mechanically she patted down the earth as she absorbed Naruto's sentiment. Knowing his father she understood his viewpoint. Minato took so much pride in what his son did he had even framed a messily colored drawing he had did in first grade. She could never picture her father doing anything remotely similar as that and it did fill her heart with longing. But people are what they choose to be and they won't change because you want them to. She was just glad to have met a family like Naruto and Minato where they did not shield their love and care from the other.

It gave her hope.

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"Hey! He got new sprinklers!"

The exclamation caught her attention. Looking towards her coworker who was surrounded by greenery on the stone path, she saw Naruto's head tilted back so his line of sight matched the new sprinklers overhead.

"Man I used to think it was so bogus that we had to water the plants by hand when we had these things. I know better now though."

A smile crossed her lips at Naruto's free memory. She remembered when initially helping here she had questioned Minato why they needed the containers of water when the plants were being sprayed on by the overhead sprinklers throughout the day. He had explained to her that if it was any other greenhouse there would be no manual care, but this was a glass house filled with many exotic plants.

Typical rainforest plants would receive over a hundred inches of rain per year (desert only received under six inches which was why there were no sprinklers built in the desert room) but that was in the typical environment. Sprinklers would go off at certain times of the day (motion detection prevented students from getting wet) so the plants would receive the majority of the water. Special plants that needed to be irrigated more were watered manually and the other plants were checked to ensure they were not overwatered.

It made a lot more sense to her when the botanist professor explained the system. She began to learn how the sprinkler operated and that the orange vertical hoes by the first entrance of the rainforest would be pulled to turn on the shower if the autonomic approach failed. Thankfully there were no known malfunctions to the new system.

"So, when's your first class today?"

Dropping some of the clammy soil she had picked up she shuffled her weight to the next organism which forced her to face Naruto. Examining both of their positions she realized that they were halfway done with the rainforest room. For some unexplainable reason she felt disappointed.

"I-it's at 10:20."

The first day of their combined work was on a Sunday. Now that it was a weekday and they both belonging to a school, they had classes to attend to. Thankfully neither of them had early morning sessions so they were free to tend to the greenhouse.

"Do you just have that one or do you have more?"

"I h-have four c-classes today."

Four courses a day might not sound horrible in terms of high school but college classes would usually run from two to three hours depending on the subject. And with her school day only starting at the time it was, it meant that her day was booked. Of course, she didn't want it to be scheduled that way but she had to catch up on credits. Switching majors after the first semester of college had set her back.

"Four! Wow that's a lot. Did you make time to eat lunch?"

"Al-little, I have t-time to eat i-in one of t-the cafeterias."

"Yuck! I hate the cafeteria. I usually take something with me or make something there except on Tuesdays. I only have one class that day so I would usually go to Ichiraku's."

"What's Ichiraku's?"

Dazzlingly white teeth exposed themselves as Naruto gave her the widest grin she had ever seen.

"It's the best restaurant stand ever. Teuchi, the owner and cook, makes the best ramen on this planet. You really haven't had ramen until you've had his. Just thinking about it makes me wish I had some."

She contained a giggle when she saw the dreamy look in his eyes. It was exquisite dishes that he wanted to prepare for a living but it was the instant, microwavable meal that had his mouth watering. It seemed that he was full of surprises.

"S-so you're going t-tomorrow?"

The hazy cloud in those breathtaking blue eyes vanished and a flash of deep hurt cut through them. Stunned by the rapid intensity of sorrow she could only watch in panic as Naruto tried to swallow an invisible knot. She did not mean any harm by the question but the hurt was still there and she had to ask herself _why?_

"No, umm…I haven't been there since well…I used to take Sakura there."

Realization had hit her like a ton of bricks. Sakura. Sakura as in Naruto's ex. She had forgotten about her, again. Forgotten that the wannabe doctor was the reason Naruto was here. That beautiful smile had yet again erased her memory of the pain beneath. Her chest begun to feel heavy and her throat constricted as breathing became a near impossible task. The guilt and remorse overwhelmed her. How could she remind him of something so painful even if it was unintentional? She could still see him trying to hide the ache of his heart from the broken bond.

All of the sudden she felt very foolish to have thought him so handsome.

Eyelids closed as she took a deep breath. No, she could not do this. She could not let her feelings overweigh any help she can give him. She had told herself after the confrontation with her father that she would be strong and remain so. She needed to be and more importantly she promised to be the ear that Naruto needed.

She would be a good friend, even if it risked losing the friendship.

"S-so that w-was y-your g-guys place?"

She was opening up a freshly healed cut she knew. She hoped_ he_ knew that she was doing it so he could heal properly; she prayed he would not get mad.

"I…I don't…you're not going to want to hear about this."

His eyes were shifty never looking straight at her and his body moved in a way that showed he was not comfortable with the subject at hand.

"Yes I would."

The immediate, stutter-free response caught his surprised attention. A blush rose but she fought her nerves and continued on.

"Please Naruto, I w-want to listen. I'm your friend I want t-to help."

His hands turned to fists and his eyes seemed lost as he fought an internal battle. The tense silence stretched until he finally broke it.

"Ichiraku's was my favorite place before I even met Sakura. I wanted to take her there because it was… special. After going a couple times it somehow became routine. Some of our best times are there. I haven't gone there because…because…"

The opening of his thoughts seemed to become like torture for him as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair and gritted his teeth. Amazing herself, she walked to him and came into his space.

"Are you a-afraid that if you go alone, then i-it will be like your m-moving on?"

His eyes connected with hers and revealed a loneliness that stabbed her very soul.

"Y-yes, I think I am."

The revelation made her immobile for a moment. She was by far no relationship expert but she had half expected Naruto to deny the fear. Nibbling her bottom lip she considered her next words carefully.

"Did she t-tell you that she w-wanted you to be happy?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't really listening at the time."

Her eyes kept close on him to gather any reaction to her next question.

"Do y-you want to be happy?"

Bewilderment covered his face upon the asked statement. But once that puzzlement faded he appeared to really think about the matter. It took him far more time to answer about his own want of contentment rather than Sakura's want.

"Yeah, I do."

Happy at the answer, she showed her joy through a smile.

"Then you should do w-what makes you happy."

She remained smiling as Naruto took a shell-shocked expression. He remained taken aback for a few more seconds until his full lips curved into a small smile. It wasn't as glamorous or mind-blowing as the smiles before but it was all the more real. The sinking feeling of guilt on her part rose and evaporated into thin air and she was left feeling lighter than ever. Satisfied that she could end a conversation about his ex on a happy note, she went back to finish her work.


	4. Chapter Three

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Chapter Three

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The sound of metal clipping together reverberated through the silent room as a single dried up brown leaf floated to the constructed forest floor. Another dead leaf followed soon after as she worked around the large bush-like plant. With vigilant eyes, she searched through the tangle of green, firm leaves to find the aged ones that the plant was spending energy to heal. Once her eyes landed on another crippled sheet of brown she took the one-hand closure pruning clippers in her right hand and slipped the petiole of the leaf in between the aluminum blades. She made sure to place her clipping near the base of the stem to prevent future infection before closing her hand and feeling the fibers in the channel snap. She watched the deformed teardrop blade drift to her feet before continuing to prune the rainforest plant.

It was a weekly exercise to remove any dead leaves from the habitat. This was important, to prevent any build up of harmful bacteria or fungi. The plants were very acceptable to disease with being in such close contact with foreigners, so precautions were made once a week to dispose of the fallen leaves on the ground as well as the unsightly ones on the plant. Though one brown leaf left on a plant was no problem.

Naruto and she had decided that Tuesday would be the best day to do the extra work. He only had one class to attend to while her courses did not begin until after noon. They assigned themselves different tasks after they did the daily watering. She was to get rid of the old leaves on the unmoving organisms while he swept clean the ground. They had a minor argument where she opted that she would throw away the leaves she clipped while he insisted that he would clean up any mess she made. She had never been one to quarrel, so he won that dispute very quickly.

Letting her sight meander, she quietly watched as Naruto threw some leaves into a large black trash bag. He was wearing an old high school shirt today, one that clearly showed he had been on the basketball team. It had his school colors, black and red, with his name and number on the back. It had been the title of his old school printed in red on his chest that she first saw when he entered.

She had been tremendously nervous this morning. Yesterday had ended well enough, saying their goodbyes with smiles on their faces. But she had opened up some tender memories for him and he had the rest of Monday to dwell on them. She was anxious that he would waltz in anguished from the recollections. She feared that he would have completely dismissed her words of finding happiness.

But there was no trance of that raw emotion when he greeted her. In fact, he looked determined and settled. As if he had been in some great struggle and finally reached a resolution. It had given her great relief.

She had been the first one to hear his opinion on the break-up. Minato, as well as Naruto's friends, had tried to get him to open up only for him to close on them. It had become really frustrating for Minato to not be any help. She could tell from the strain in his voice when he talked about the disintegrated relationship.

How she was able to get Naruto to converse with her, she didn't know. Why he decided to pick her to assist in easing the pain, she had no clue. But she was happy that he did. He was dealing with reality now and because he was awake he could perhaps learn how to move on.

She let her eyes stay on Naruto and his (she hoped) internal change before she peeled herself away from him and to the creature next to her. Her see-through irises moved in a pattern akin to looking for the next fitting puzzle piece to complete the picture. Her eyes stilled when she found her next victim. The lifeless blade was embedded in a sea of green. She tried to grab the petiole of the leaf but the thick, leather gloves she wore prevented a good hold. Slightly frustrated from not getting want she desired she took off her left glove and finally grabbed the stem between her slim index finger and thumb.

The metal blades of the clippers came close to her bare hand before a lock of dark hair escaped from her messy bun and fell unto her face. Frowning at the second obstruction, she flipped the tress back with a motion of her neck. As soon as the line of hair was out of sight an annoyed shout barreled from the other side of the room.

"God damn these branches!"

Snapping her head to Naruto's direction, she saw him fight off a good number of thin wooden extensions to make it to the floor closest to the glass wall. A few soft laughs escaped her as she watched the humorous sight. In the end, he was victorious and in doing so bent down to do what was needed.

Her smile that had been caused by the hilarity of before dimmed as she watched his dark shirt ride down an inch along his strong back. The exposed skin, dark from the sun, complemented his dark blue jeans well. The denims themselves were perfect for him, outlining his toned waist and fitting snuggly to the curves of his backside. The material stretched from his bent position and presented the rounds of his globular flesh flawlessly.

It was as she contemplated the texture of his skin that she shockingly realized what she was doing. She had been checking out a man. Oh, but not any man. She had been checking out a man friend. She had been checking out _Naruto_.

Scandalized, she quickly turned away as if not having the visible image in front of her would erase the earlier outrageous thoughts and calm her now frantically beating heart. But her daydream had made her disregard the way her body was positioned and it was with some stinging realization that her left hand had been bare and been close to a sharp blade.

"Ow!"

The thinned edge of aluminum running across the pad of her thumb only lasted a second, but the cutting of flesh left a lasting pain. Dazed she stared at the slim opening in her skin and the dark red liquid dripping from it.

"What happened? Did you get hurt? Hey-"

Alarmed, she looked up from her appendage to see that Naruto had rushed towards her. His quickly asked what and did questions concluded with him snatching her hand and intently examining the injured thumb. A hot blush appeared on her face from not only the concerned gaze, but from the feel of his rough palm on her after such wanton thoughts.

"I thought you were wearing gloves, what happened?"

"I-I was b-but I c-couldn't get t-the l-leaf."

Her nervous system went on overdrive as she became a stammering mess. Her heart was beating so hard that it felt like it was hammering her ribs, like an angry lion trying to beat down its cage. She tried to get the shakes of her form under control lest Naruto notice the tremble. He must not have with the way he clasped her fingers, minus her thumb, and gently tugged her forward.

"Come on, we have to get that cleaned up."

She let him kindly guide her to the unisex bathroom behind the desk end of the classroom. When there he immediately turned on the sink, tested the warmth of the water, then stuck her sliced thumb under the running liquid. She contained a hiss from the contact and watched as Naruto got the first aid kit from the cabinet above the toilet.

"I c-can do t-that, Naruto. You d-don't have to."

He flashed a dazzling smile while setting the kit on the edge of the sink.

"Its fine Hinata, I want to help. Besides you can't bandage your thumb with one hand."

The white box popped as it was opened. Naruto searched through the medical supplies before he took out the sterile gauze then stopped the faucet. Her emotions ran high again as Naruto took her hand in his own and pressed the gauze to her wound. She was appalled by her previous thoughts. Of course Naruto was an attractive individual and she had recognized that, but to have such improper thoughts of a _friend_ was just wrong. She was ashamed of herself.

What was worse was her silly display afterwards. Blushing, stuttering…it was like she went back to square one. Like she hadn't of persisted the man the day before to talk to her. Thankfully, Naruto's concentration had been on her damaged thumb and not on her strange behavior. But she still felt odd. The way he held her hand sent a spark of something down her arm. Swallowing her parched throat, she hoped it was due to the cut.

"I've decided to take your advice."

She blinked at the comment. It took her a moment to arrive on earth and input the statement in her brain. Blue eyes turned up from her hand after her delay. He gave a little smile to what she assumed to be her confused expression.

"About doing what makes me happy. I think I'm going to do it. I'm going to go to Ichiraku's today."

Her eyes widened at the surprising announcement.

"A-are you sure?"

His smile grew as his eyes grew hard with fortitude.

"Yeah."

"That's great Naruto! I'm h-happy for you."

Striking blue eyes turned back to her thumb and the bloating work he was doing. She heard a slight quiver in his voice with his next disclosure.

"Thanks, I'm a little nervous though. Sakura has been the love of my life since the beginning of high school; I always thought she would be the one that I would marry. It's kind of scary to know now that's she not my future and it's even more scary to know that I don't know who I'm going to love or that it's even going to happen."

Throughout his speech, he had thrown away the dirtied gauze and began bandaging her thumb. She did not miss the avoidance of eye contact when she felt the bandage wrap around her limb. Sympathy filled every crevice of her body with every word that he spoke. Loneliness, rejection, it was the universal fears of love. Time and time again she felt the frightening feeling of either being alone for the rest of her life or to have her heart broken by the one she would love. The terror of theses fates have altered many of people's characters, either for the worse or better.

She knew the fear, just like any other human, but that did not mean that she wanted her friend to experience it. His heart was too good for that.

"It will happen."

Warmth spread her cheeks at the surprise and curiosity in those blue depths.

"You're a-a good m-man Naruto. Women w-will fall in love with y-you and whoever you p-pick will be very lucky."

He looked at her with a blank expression on his face. She began to fidget from the non-response, then a heartfelt smile outlined his face and his eyes warmed with brilliant shades of blues.

"Thanks Hinata, you're going to make some man really happy one day."

She felt a deep blush engulf her entire face and neck with those words. Beyond humbled she bowed her head as a genuine smile crossed her lips. The noise of a door shutting caught her attention and she peeked from under her bangs to see that Naruto had put the kit away. She tried to make her body swallow her blush as his remarkable eyes turned to her.

"Tell you what; seen as how we only have a little work left, you can get going to study for that test of yours while I'll wrap up here. Sound good?"

"Are y-you sure? I d-don't want to leave y-you with too much work."

A smile that had not lost its earlier sincerity was presented to her.

"Yeah, I know how important getting your degree is for you. Besides I can handle it. Oh and…"

His eyes traveled from the viewing of hers to a lower location. Befuddled she journeyed the same path to where her taped thumb was. A light blush rose from embarrassment of her clumsiness and she saw a smile in those bright eyes.

"Make sure to be more careful next time."

He finalized his point with a wink and departed the small bathroom before she had time to turn fully red. She stared out the open door for a few blank seconds before a strange little smile formed on her light lips.

That woman would indeed be lucky.

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The bucket tilted in an angle that caused a pool of water to cascade out of the tiny openings in the white round spout. Gravity took its hold of the liquid and forced it to travel the short distance to the area below. Lightly tanned soil grew dark with fluid contact and the rich color swelled in every direction. Satisfied with the amount of water poured, the bucket was set up right before she did a final check of the patch of earth.

It had become that time when the desert plants were eager for water. Enough time had passed where most of the sun-resistant life forms needed a drink. That of course meant a little extra work this morning.

After a last pat to the wet soil, pale lavender eyes gazed up to the heavens when a particularity loud thunder bolt shook the earth. The storm had begun ten minutes prior. She had heard the pattering sound of droplets hitting the glass roof and had watched more and more lines of water run down the sides of the house. She had no idea it was supposed to rain today, if she had she would not have worn a white shirt. Luckily she had brought a light waterproof jacket and her umbrella was stationed in one of book bag compartments like always.

She was also fortunate enough to come early to the cozy building before the atmospheric change. Naruto had called her cell the moment the storm picked up saying that he would be late due to the weather. They had passed to each other their numbers the first day in case one of them could not show. His call was for business, but to hear his smooth voice over her phone gave her the silly idea that they could talk daily via device. But she shook off the thought and immediately got to work.

They were friends yes and she knew Naruto was not the kind of man to shake off that relationship once their work was done, but she seriously doubted he would want to talk to her every day. People could only take so much of a person and she knew that anyone would tire of her inward nature. Besides it might be best not to see so much of Naruto in case something like yesterday happened.

Her heart would still beat fast from that moment. What in the world prompted her to have such immoral thoughts? She knew she was a woman, but had her lack of dating made her so pent up that she would actually put Naruto in such a light? She was happy with his friendship, she shouldn't think of anything more. Plus, he was just now progressing from the last romantic relationship he had.

She had giggled when he recounted to her his lunch at Ichiraku's over her mobile. He had been too excited to wait to tell her how delicious the ramen had been and how happy Teuchi had been to see him. He had a positive experience at the stand and she was elated that occurred.

The sound of a door slamming snapped her out of her reminiscence and she soon heard a familiar booming voice.

"Hey Hinata! I'm here!"

Her facial muscles worked involuntarily when a smile came to her face. She wiped her soil-covered hands on her old dark jeans while she began to stand and was about to call out to Naruto when said man walked into the room. He wore a forest green rain jacket that shined from the sheet of water on it. She figured he had the hood up outside from the way his brightly colored hair was still dry.

"Wow you got a lot done, sorry I wasn't here."

"It's okay. I'm j-just glad you didn't get in an accident."

He gave her that smile that she could only identify as Naruto's.

"Hey do you mind taking a break? I got something for you."

Confused, surprised and slightly touched she nodded her head before following Naruto who seemed to radiate excitement. With a little more spring to his step he led her to the classroom and eagerly told her to sit at his father's desk. Quietly she did as he told and watched as he took a tupperware bowl from his bag. Curious, she observed him as he bounced towards her with the plastic dish and a fork in hand.

"You're not allergic to sweet peppers or zucchini are you?"

A mental light bulb turned on as soon as she heard the question.

"No."

A smile full of thrilled joy etched his face before setting down the bowl before her and opening the lid. She smiled when she saw that her guess was correct. Inside the basin was a collection of diced yellow, red, orange peppers and zucchini with pasta in the shape of bowties covered in specks of green.

"It's simple really. The vegetables are marinated in Italian dressing and grilled then mixed in with bowtie pasta and my personal made pesto. It's nothing fancy, but…"

She gazed away from the appetizing looking meal to see that he was offering her the pointed utensil with unusually shy eyes.

"Want to give it a try?"

Smiling, she grabbed the fork without hesitation. She forked a bowtie bathed in olive oil and mashed basil as well as a saturated zucchini. Rising the pieces of food to her lips, she slid them into her awaiting mouth. An explosion of flavor soon erupted on her tongue. The taste that overtook her oral cavity was indescribable. It almost made her moan in delight and before long she was craving for more.

"This is really good Naruto."

"Really?"

She reluctantly tore her eyes from the tempting cuisine to see Naruto sat before her with a sight she had never seen on his face. Those blue eyes… they were…_vulnerable_. Never was he so exposed. Even when he talked about Sakura there was still a line of defense. But all guards had been taken down and the windows to his soul looked nothing like their usual unbending self.

It felt as if her heart had lodged itself in her throat. He was truly trusting her and she couldn't lose that faith.

Immediately a sincere smile sprung on her face.

"Yes, this is incredible Naruto. I c-can't believe that this is a simple dish. I love it."

A beautiful smile answered her and like a fantasy a dust of pink settled on Naruto's cheeks.

"Really Hinata? I didn't think it was that good. I still haven't nailed down my pesto recipe and its better when it doesn't sit overnight, but…I'm happy you like it."

Gazing into that kaleidoscope of blues, she saw that he was more than pleased and it made her feel abnormally bubbly.

"The rest is for your lunch so you don't have to eat any of that nasty cafeteria food."

"Thank you Naruto, that's v-very thoughtful."

"It's nothing really. It's just great to know that you actually _like_ my food."

Lining the lid up to the rim of the bowl, she pressed down and sealed out the exterior air from her precious lunch.

"You'll make a great chef."

"So how's Tenten?"

Startled by the abrupt, off-topic question she looked up to the man who was nearly squirming in his seat. She thought he would take glee from any praise given to him but seemed yet again embarrassed by hers. The question had probably been a way of escape. Confused why her words would do such a thing (again), she went along with Naruto's getaway.

"She's fine I think s-she might have been a little worried about me because she was t-talking to Neji last night on the phone."

Naruto's forehead wrinkled in confusion.

"Your roommate talks to your cousin?"

"Only when she's worried about me."

She knew it sounded strange, but there was a reasonable explanation for it.

Neji had come to visit her after Tenten knocked out the Hyuuga guard. He wanted to make sure that she would be safe, so without her knowledge, he had given Tenten his number and told the brunette to reach him whenever his cousin was having problems. It startled Neji (as well as herself) when Tenten actually followed his advice and called him after she had argued with her father and demanded what was going on and why her roommate was unhappy. Neji had to calm Tenten's anger for the head of the Hyuuga company down after he explained what happened and ever since that talk the sophomore would call her cousin if she ever thought there was something wrong.

"Oh, I guess that's…nice. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, what is i-it?"

Naruto's eyes tilted to the corner as he hesitated.

"You had said that your cousin didn't like you when you guys were younger, why? I mean, you're so nice. I can't imagine why someone wouldn't like you."

She felt her heart stop at the question. A million emotions ran through her and she gazed downward in case Naruto saw them. He didn't know, but he had just approached a very sensitive topic in her family. Though she knew she should blame herself for ever mentioning Neji's childhood dislike of her. But it was no secret; in fact it had been headline news years ago. Those were very, very painful years.

But Naruto had poured out his pain to her; it was only fair she do the same.

"Neji b-blamed me f-for his f-father's death."

She tried to keep her emotions steady but her voice shook all the same. There was no way she could look at him, so she missed any disbelief or shock on his part.

"W-what? What are you talking about Hinata?"

She steeled herself for the story she had never shared.

"I w-was three when m-my father and m-mother had to g-go to a d-dinner sponsored by o-our new allies in t-the Cloud and L-lightening incorporation. M-my father asked m-my uncle, his b-brother, to w-watch over m-me."

Pausing, she took a dry swallow. She didn't remember any of this, but she heard the tale enough.

"He t-took me and Neji o-out to eat. We w-were leaving the r-restaurant when I dropped t-the ball I g-got that day. It r-rolled out onto the s-street and I w-went to get it. A c-car almost hit m-me but my u-uncle pushed me o-out of the w-way in t-time. He g-got hit i-instead."

After she said the words, a bit of confidence filled her and she looked back into those eyes. Naruto, for his part, looked astonished.

"H-he didn't m-make it to the h-hospital and Neji b-believed it w-was all m-my fault."

"What!?" two fists came down hard on the desk. "That's ridiculous! You were just a kid!"

Jolted from such quick, unpredicted aggression, she acted out of character and laid her hand on his fist in hopes to calm him down.

"It's alright Naruto, we're friends now. We talked after my mother's d-death and he apologized for any pain he caused me."

His tightly curled fingers loosened slightly after those words and she tried to sooth him further with a kind smile. He seemed to realize just how upset he had gotten after that and gave off a sheepish air.

"Sorry, I get upset when justice doesn't happen where it should. My dad said that if I hadn't of wanted to cook then I should have been a lawyer."

They both smiled at each other as the once distressed atmosphere disappeared. They were silent, lost in their own world until lightening tore the sky and grabbed their attention. In a second, they both realized they still had plants to tend to. She opened her mouth to speak when she felt something warm shift under her palm. Simultaneously they looked down to see her ivory hand still rested on his bronze one. Blushing horribly, she snatched her hand away.

"S-sorry."

She swore the smile he gave her had a tinge of amusement.

"That's okay. Want to get back to work?"

Silently she nodded her head and watched as Naruto stood, unzipped and hung his jacket. He then proceeded to go to the desert room while she set her surprise gift by her bag. She took one final glance at the bowl of food before leaving the classroom.

As unexplainable as it was, for the rest of the day, she could not stop smiling.

:+:::+:::+:::+:

A/N: I apologize if the next chapter comes out late. My week will be very busy, but rest assured that I will post it.


	5. Chapter Four

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Chapter Four

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"You know what word I hate?"

Two delicate eyebrows slated forward as her mind played over what combination of letters her companion could truly dislike.

"No."

"Spacious."

An expression alike to the saying, 'are you kidding me?' crossed her face as she quickly gazed at the man a few feet away from her.

"I'm serious! I _hate_ that word."

The incredible look faded, as amusement had its full and caused a tiny smile to rise on her lips.

"Why do you hate that word Naruto?"

"It's biased! It's like a really weird thing to say in normal conversation but then _everyone_ says it when their seeing a house for the first time. Why can't they just say that the room looks big or roomy, it means the same damn thing. But I guess everyone has to try and look smart. Spacious, ha! Next thing you know people will be describing their cars as sublime."

She couldn't cage the laughter any longer that was due to Naruto's irritation on such an unimportant topic. The bursts of her mirth were louder than she could ever remember and it instantly got Naruto's attention. Instead of getting upset from her jollity, he spoke in playful manner.

"You laugh Hinata, but you know it's true."

After a few more seconds, her laughter was subdued as the morning sun temporarily blinded her vision. The rainforest room was always particularly sunny in the early day with the position of the greenhouse. It had been strategically planned that the rainforest organisms would catch the morning's rays while the ones from desert would receive them at a later hour. Minato wanted to make sure his plants got the fullest amount of sunlight and planted them accordingly.

It was smart and the plants always bore a healthy shade of green. The only problem with the location was that on bright days, the room would become sightless from all those beams. She turned her head from that specific shaft of light and then looked onto Naruto with apologetic eyes.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't mean to laugh. I just never heard s-someone get so upset from a word."

"That's okay. I know it's stupid, but we all got our pet peeves. What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah you, what do people do that ticks you off?"

"…I'm not really sure."

"Oh well there has to be_ something_. We all hate something people do even if it's a word."

A slight downturn of her pink lips followed the searching's of her mind. It was funny; she had believed that by the fifth day their conversation subjects would have dried up. But Naruto never seemed to run out of things to talk about and she was sitting here astonishingly wondering a cause for her annoyance.

"I don't like it when people look over my shoulder while I'm doing something."

The most walloping development though was not Naruto's endless dialogue but her recent speech. The words flowed out of her mouth, connected and smooth with barely any speech impediment. She was stutter free.

A true sign of comfort.

"Really? Why does that bother you?"

She looked at Naruto for a minute, knelt down kneading the soil in his hands. She pondered a good answer as her eyes roamed over another one of his (she guessed) many orange shirts. Finally, she let her eyes fall to the earth as she spoke.

"I'm not totally sure. It gives me this iffy feeling. Like someone is disturbing my privacy, though I know they're not. I guess it just makes me feel self conscious."

She let the soil in her hand crumble piece by piece from her fingers; the bandage on her thumb even dirtier than before. When the final chunk fell, she angled her view to gather what Naruto thought of her insecurity through physicality. She nearly jumped her skin when she saw that he was much closer than before. He stood at his full impressive height, making her feel like a mere mouse as he hovered over her right side. Slowly, he bent down. Never did he break the connection that their eyes had formed, hers wide and nervous and his an intense, intense blue.

"Would you feel like that if it was with someone you trust?"

Her heart tripled in speed when he spoke. She had no idea what this was. He looked no different from before but undyingly serious. She should have been musing over why he would want to ask what he did, but her head went back to the same thoughts of Tuesday.

Those tempting and tantalizing thoughts of sin.

Her moral conscious screamed at her to kill that dream but she didn't push it away like her ethical side wanted to. Somewhere in the dark corners of her mind she thought…what he doesn't know won't hurt him.

A banging noise interrupted her less than chaste imagination. Taking a silent gasp, she very briefly wondered why she would let her internal self lapse like that.

"What was that?"

She let her eyes slip from Naruto's frame to the direction of the classroom. The banging had sounded like knocking on wood, but she guessed Naruto already knew that. Whoever had caused that racket did so again but louder.

"The door is unlocked, what are they doing knocking?"

"I'll g-go see w-who it is."

Quickly, she made her way out of the bright forest room. She needed to separate herself from Naruto for a moment and this was the perfect excuse. Immodest was she to have those speculations about her friend again, but she wasn't as disturbed by it as she was the first time.

And that disturbed her more than anything.

Shaking away her private trouble, she cleared her mind and almost ran to the front door that was being beat down by a fist.

"Coming!"

She turned the gold painted round knob and pulled the white door open in a swift motion. The now opened wall let her gaze at her intruder. She just about turned into a cherry when she saw, not one, but three handsome gentlemen that were close to her age. The brown haired boy with a raised fist gave her a full smile as he dropped his hand.

"Hey, you're Hinata right?"

She blinked and then blinked again for good measure. Never before had she seen these men before, how did they know her name? Cautiously, she nodded her head.

"Cool! Can you let us in?"

Struck with awareness that her body was blocking any entry, she moved and watched one man walk in after another. She watched as the one with black, spiky hair slump into one of the chairs with a bored look on his face. The largest man of the group followed his action, a soft look in his brown eyes. She warily closed the door as she saw the man who had asked her name decide to stand. Confused by their presence she steadily voiced her question.

"Who m-might you t-three be?"

"Oh yeah! Guess we should have said who we are."

She looked again at the only man who had spoken and took in his mess of chocolate hair and wolfish looking eyes.

"I'm Kiba."

"Shikamaru."

The drained voice came from the man with dark hair and tired features. The remaining man gave her a kind smile as he announced his title.

"Chouji."

The names clicked for her. She knew these men; their physical attributes had been described to her as well as their characters. And it all matched up.

"Oh! Your Naruto's r-roommates. Hang on, I'll g-get Naruto for y-you."

"No."

The fatigued demand made her halt her movement. Confused, she looked at the man she just met as Shikamaru.

"We're not here for Naruto, we're here for you."

Instead of getting relief by his answer she grew even more perplexed.

"Me?"

"Ya did say you're Hinata, so yeah."

At a loss, she gaped at Kiba. Why in the world would they be here for her? She's never met them, talked to them. She had only associated herself with their roommate and friend. Chouji seemed to take pity on her baffled mind and explained.

"We wanted to talk to you about Naruto."

The clarification bore sense. Naruto was the one thing she held in common with these men; he would of course be the subject. But what about Naruto? Her mind raced with wild possibilities and she immediately got concerned.

"Is he alright?"

Kiba gave her an amused smile, one that made her feel like he was holding back a teasing comment.

"He's fine. In fact, he's doing great which is why we came to talk to you."

Bafflement was quickly becoming a common thing to her. If Naruto was so well, why was there need for alarm?

"Do you know Sakura, Naruto's ex?"

Chouji's words were smooth and the air around him was calm. She couldn't help but to think of him as a gentle giant.

"Not p-personally, but I've h-heard of her."

Her words seemed to erase the dullness in Shikamaru's coal eyes. It felt like he was studying her, depicting something of her character as he questioned her.

"Have you heard of Ichiraku's?"

"Y-Yes."

"Did you know that he went there Tuesday?"

Unsure, her eyes darted to each of the three men. Why were they questioning her like this?

"…Y-Yes."

"Alright! Enough with the questions," spluttered Kiba. "Here's what's going down."

She more or less sighed in relief when the energetic man declared he was going to explain why they were really here.

"Naruto hasn't went to Ichiraku's since that woman left-"

"Kiba," warned Chouji.

"Alright fine, since Sakura left. He wouldn't go anywhere near that place because it reminded him of tha- Sakura. _But_ he went Tuesday and he was even talking about going there again next week. Now what's even weirder is that last night when we all went shopping to pick up a few things we ran into Sakura and her new piece of eye candy."

"Kiba," Chouji warned again with a deeper voice.

"What?" Kiba innocently asked. "I don't remember his name. Anyway that's not the point. The point is that not only did he not avoid her like he has been, but he actually said hi to them. We all thought it was pretty freaky, but we figured he was just putting up a tough face for the sake of his dignity. So, we still thought that he would do the same thing he's been doing for the past two months at home whenever he saw tha- Sakura."

"Cook," mumbled Shikamaru.

"And _a lot_!" continued Kiba. "The first time he saw Sakura after the break-up he baked like a thousand cookies."

"872," verified the aloof man.

"Right. But he didn't cook this time. He just did the same thing he does every night and hung out with us. He was even smiling the whole time! We had no idea what made him turn around so much, so we all got to thinking what's changed for him in the past couple of days and we could only come up with one thing."

Silently, she swallowed some saliva that had become uncomfortably thick. Her eyes felt dry from how wide and unblinking they had been since the beginning of Kiba's recount of the night before. She had no clue that Naruto had run into the woman who had broken his heart and the man who now held hers. He never mentioned to her this meeting and he appeared the same as always. There was no trance of sadness on his attractive face, no grief or sorrow from being yet again reminded of his loneliness.

Was he really moving on?

The question only washed over her, not soaking in as she had three sets of eyes on her. She knew the insinuation at the end of Kiba's tale and could only bite her lip when Shikamaru validated.

"You."

A blush that not even the color wheel could identify settled on her cheeks. That simple word made a billion little emotions bounce around in her body. She knew that she was the first Naruto opened up to and that in a way helped him to overcome his dread, but to have it confirmed by his friends, the men who really know him…it made her feel beyond special.

"We have no idea how you've done it, but we wanted to thank you."

There was a lot of gratitude in those eyes of Chouji.

"Thank m-me?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Kiba. "It's because of you Naruto isn't kicking himself around anymore."

"B-But I didn't r-really say a w-whole lot, I'm s-sure it wasn't a-all me."

Slightly more awake, Shikamaru tilted his head to one side, the tiny silver hoops pierced in his ears following his action.

"For curiosity sake, what did you say to him?"

A little timid to share her words of truth about Naruto, she talked with care.

"I j-just told him t-to do what makes h-him happy and that a-any woman would b-be lucky to b-be with him."

Soon as the words tumbled from her mouth she wished she could take it back, for each of the three men adopted the same knowing wicked grin. That untitled color emerged on her face again.

"Hey Hinata, what's taking so long-"

Naruto's sentence died as he entered the room. His blue eyes amplified when they landed on the greenhouse's guests.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"You left your bag at the apartment, so troublesome."

Light lavender eyes gazed in amazement as a black bag that had been unseen made its appearance. Apparently, the excuse had been planned.

"Bag? I don't take anything with me to class on Thursdays, you guys know that."

"Our mistake," muttered Shikamaru.

"Hey Naruto, you never mentioned how cute Hinata is."

Kiba gave her a dangerous grin and a saucy wink. Every drop of blood in her body went to her face as she felt it catch fire. She had not gotten that implication from him _before_ Naruto came in. From the corner of her eye, she could see the handsome blonde and was slightly startled at what she saw. His plump lips tightened into a straight line as his sapphire eyes hardened in his best friend's direction. A light flush blanketed his skin and his hands curled into fists.

He did not look happy.

And that, for some reason, Kiba appeared to get a kick out of.

"Alright out! All of you! You're supposed to be getting to class so stop harassing Hinata and go!"

They all got up, but nowhere near in a rush. Shikamaru was the first one to say something as they slugged to the door with Naruto pushing behind them.

"It's way too early for class."

"It was nice to meet you," uttered Chouji whose eyes were directed at her.

"Yeah _real _nice," expressed Kiba. Naruto's grip on his arm seemed to tighten.

"Out, out, out!"

Naruto's chant seemed to have the desired effects as all the men filed out of the building. Her co-worker turned to her and gave her a dazzling smile. There was not even a hint of anger in it.

"I'll be right back Hinata, just have to make sure these losers actually leave."

Just like that he left and she stood there…a complete daze.

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The cold, flat stone made her knees scream in agony. Every microscopic bump and point in the boulder was made painfully aware of even through the thick material of her jeans. All of her weight pressed down on the joints of her legs when she leaned in a certain way. The strain caused even more misery to her body and she was sure that underneath her pants there were angry red imprints on her kneecaps.

She didn't normally pin her body on her knees, but the position was required in order to reach the piece of land. She would much rather swat or sit on her bum like she normally did.

Grimacing, she pulled back and stood, her knees finding some relief. Thankfully, that desert plant did not need watering.

"Jeez it's cold today!"

The cry made her head snap around. Naruto walked into the space rubbing one bare arm for warmth while his other hand held a freshly filled bucket. The morning was ten degrees cooler than the sunny day before and with the hoes outside, Naruto would of course get goose-bumps when he ran out of water.

Her eyes followed him. She couldn't describe it, couldn't even come up with a sentence that would portray even half of what she felt. There was only one simple, vague comment that could help an outsider understand her emotions.

She felt weird around Naruto.

Not weird in the way she wanted to run from any close contact with him, she still felt comfortable in his presence. In fact, she only felt strange at certain moments over small, minor things. Like when their eyes would catch each other…before her shyness would make her look away, but now she couldn't look away. It was like his blue orbs put her under a spell and that she would die if she broke the connection.

It was things like that. Insufficient things that made her wonder just what her relationship with Naruto had become. She knew he felt odd too. It was in the way he looked at her; an unspoken question behind those beautiful eyes.

It had only begun when they met this morning. Thrusday was awkward in many ways but she felt normal enough when they departed. It was only today and neither of them talked about the different energy between them. The conversations ran smooth enough.

A banging similar to the sound of yesterday erupted through the structure. Immediately, a growl tore through Naruto's lips.

"Those guys! Hey on Hinata, I'll get rid of them."

A small smile curved on her face as she watched him race out of the desert room. She didn't really think that would be his friends (he had threaten them not to come back and bug her) but she didn't want to answer in case the same occurrence happened.

So many things had happened the day before. The surprise visit from Naruto's friends, their show of appreciation and then the news that Naruto's heart was really moving in the right direction. It was all so overwhelming for her. Even after reliving all of it in her head yesterday, she was still having difficulty grasping it all.

That was another odd change; Naruto could not escape the realms of psyche. Every thought involved him in some way. And right now she was speculating, what was the source of her modified view on Minato's son. Perhaps, the grounds had lain with that one moment before she met his friends. That minute in time had been unlike the normal seconds of their friendship. It had been dismissed the day before, their unexpected guests warping her mind, but today their entire morning was filled with those instants.

Conceivably, it could have been that she had not repressed a more corrupt side. That slip in defense had made her weak. More and more she found herself thinking of Naruto in a more than friendly manner. Though she would tell herself that he was _strictly_ a friend, her eyes would still fall and rest on those lips.

Those carnal images could well explain the atypical aura, but then again Naruto did not have a map of her inner musings. He was off as well. Possibly, that could be due to the feeling of being single again. Out of fear, she had not asked if the run-in with Sakura was true, but if his friends were honest then he was really becoming his own man again. And that would be a new feeling to him.

So, perhaps it was a combination of the two?

Annoyed from not knowing the answer, she threw down the dirt in her hand. She didn't like this. Not at all. Tomorrow was their last day together in the greenhouse and she didn't want to be confused and feel peculiar around him. She wanted them to have fun like the first one. She wanted for him to see her as this great friend that's cool enough to call the next day and ask if they could hang out together. There was no way she would get that call if her actions were the same as today.

Okay then, she decided all of those tender thoughts and concerns of their bond would be thrown out the window. She would clear her mind and just go with the flow. It would be hard, but she would try her best. It would be as much for Naruto as it was for herself.

Naruto…

Looking around each corner of the room, she recognized that he still had not returned. The minutes on the clock had ticked for an adequate amount of time for him to have ventured back. Worried, she walked out towards the classroom, her sneakers scraping the rock beneath all the while.

"Hey man! I have no idea who you are or _what_ you're talking about!"

She could hear the furious tone in Naruto's voice; it made her feet move faster, anxious that he might be in trouble. But when she got to the room, her body took on a state of shock.

"N-Neji?"

All three occupants turned to her trembling voice. There her cousin stood, intimidating and invading Naruto's space with a nervous eyed Tenten holding his arm. Naruto was the first to speak, incredibility tinged on his vocal cords.

"Neji?! As in your cousin Neji?"

Dangerous white eyes turned to the tan, blonde man.

"Do not raise your voice towards my cousin."

"Raise my voi-"

"What a-are you doing h-here Neji?"

She was breathing fast, baffled and wildly nervous but she knew that it would be best to intercept any potential fight. Her cousin did not relax his stance but his eyes soften slightly at her.

"It is my duty as your family to make sure any of your possible suitors has your best interests at heart."

Her knees almost gave out. Possible what?!

"Wait what?! I'm not…we're not…what do you mean suitor?!"

She couldn't agree more with Naruto's broken, flustered shriek. Just where did her cousin get that idea? And how did he even know about Naruto?

"See Neji! I told you there was nothing to worry about."

Tenten. Of course.

The brunette put on a beautiful smile, an act to probably lighten the mood. She flashed that smile to a still mystified Naruto and stuck out her right hand in greeting. Neji remained a stiff board.

"Hi, I'm Tenten. I've heard so much about you, I'm so happy to finally get to met you. You know our dorm is just a block away, so if you ever just want to stop on by and give Hinata a visit you would be more than welcomed to."

"Tenten," cautioned Neji.

Tenten's big, brown eyes glanced at Neji before turning back to the man in front of her. Her hand had fallen to her side when a paralyzed Naruto did not grasp it.

"Well…platonically speaking of course."

Never in her life did she want to die more than right at that moment.

"T-Tenten, N-Neji p-please!"

Her plead, _thankfully_ called their attention and understanding.

"Oh that's right," said Tenten. "You guys have work to do. Don't worry we'll get out of your guys way. Come on Neji."

The physical therapy major wrapped her hand around Neji's bicep and tried to lead the Hyuuga outside. Her cousin gave Naruto one more hard look before insisting a request, then leaving with Tenten on his arm.

"I expect for you to act properly the next time we meet."

Naruto and she just stood there as the mumbling voices of Neji and Tenten faded into silence. Her eye unwillingly glided towards Naruto whose system was slowly beginning to function again. She said the first thing that popped in her mind.

"I'm so s-sorry Naruto. I had n-no idea they w-were coming, if I did… I'm r-really sorry."

Eyes trapped in a cloud of daze turned to her. The mannerism of his body revealed that he still had not fully processed what happened, but all the same he gave a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it Hinata, it wasn't your fault. Friends…they just can't leave us alone, huh."

Her lips shakily curled into a fraction of a smile, as Naruto's unnatural chuckles progressed.

And just when she wanted things to get more simple.


	6. Chapter Five

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Chapter Five

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Long, shapely legs crossed and uncrossed each other as ivory hands wringed the soft material of cloth. A hint of conscious struck and the fabric was dropped and smoothed over to flatten any wrinkles. Once the textile was presentable and covering a modest amount of leg, each hand found each other and began to get in a tousle. The legs crossed again.

She could not keep still. Her feet had been traveling in circles minutes before and she had hoped that sitting on a wooden chair would annihilate some of the uneasiness in her heart and body. She had no such luck though for she was even jumpier than before.

The restlessness was even worse than the first day when she met Naruto. Then, she had been fearful that he would not like her or would prefer not to work with her, but now it was different. Before she would have been disappointed and even slightly sad if he disliked her, but now she had his friendship. She had made a link with the man and though it was still fresh, she knew she would be crushed if it was broken.

The primitive knowledge that Naruto would try and salvage their relationship was still there. But how deep that connection would be would not be branded until after this day. And heaven knew she wanted their friendship to be strong.

She took a deep, soothing breath. Her heart beat as well as the adrenaline slowed down a few paces. To further calm her overactive self she peered out of one of the three windows in the classroom. It was a beautiful spring day, alike to Monday but bright like Thursday. Seen as how the weekend morning was so picturesque and it would be Naruto's final day here, she had dressed in something nicer than her standard shirt/sweatshirt and jeans.

Her dress was a solid Turkish Rose color. No patterns adored the muted purple, not quite red cotton, but the short puffy sleeves and U-cut neckline gave the dress a bit of character. As to how it wrapped around her figure, it held a good deal of modesty without making her feel absolutely repulsive. For example, the cloth fell off of her hips in a fine A-shape but the hem stopped at her knees. She would never feel comfortable enough to publically show off anything above that.

The outfit (completed with flats) was decent but nothing too fancy that she was afraid to get dirt on. It most certainly wasn't anything like what she had been wearing to the greenhouse. She marveled if Naruto would think that she wore the dress for him…in a way she did.

A rosy blush filled her cheeks as she dreamt of a possible shameless reaction from him to her state of dress. No, she told herself. She had promised herself Friday that she would wipe away any thought and do everything naturally. The tension between them had grown after Tenten and Neji's departure. Though she wasn't one much for scolding, she had still questioned her roommate why she would inform Neji of Naruto. Tenten had defended herself with the excuse that considering how close the Hyuuga cousins were, she reckoned that he already knew of Naruto. In the end, she told the brunette that all was forgiven while said excused sighed in relief.

The pardon though did not obliterate the results. Naruto and she had said their goodbyes in the most awkward way possible yesterday and she did not want to suffer the consequences today. She would put on a smile, act, no believe everything was alright and try to have the finest morning.

It was spring after all.

The sound of the front door creaking open caught her attention and like déjà vu she sprang from her seat. She was meant with Naruto's striking smile and she gave one back, full force.

"Hey Hinata, how are…"

The greeting failed as his blue eyes raked her body. She wanted to curl up into a little ball as those breathtaking eyes scanned her, but managed to keep her form still.

"Wow Hinata, you look nice."

Her heart skipped a noticeable beat as her entire body blushed and breathing became abnormal.

"T-Thank you Naruto."

Said man seemed to disable the spell he was under and give her another smile.

"So we doing the same old same old?"

She pretended his smile and mere appearance did not affect her as she said yes and began to walk towards the pails.

"Actually, could you help me with something first?"

Curious about the unexpected request she responded with her initial answer.

"Sure, what do you need help with?"

He gave her a gracious smile as he pulled out a roll of black duck tape from his bag and then walk over to his father's desk. She followed.

"Well you see its kind of a tradition that whenever my dad leaves on a trip that I pull a prank on him when he returns."

Minato's chair was then put on the ground, the four black wheels sticking up in the air.

"A prank?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous. This is my father were talking about. Could you get me the scissors from the right, top drawer?"

She momentarily watched as Naruto began to pull a strip of tape before pulling open the drawer closest to her hip and searching for the metal blades. Once found, she grabbed the plastic handle and handed it over to Naruto. A piece of paper had been resting on the cutting instrument though and it fell from the confines of the desk. She immediately bent over to retrieve it after her hand was free of scissors. Picking up the rectangular small document she realized that it wasn't paper and flipped it over.

It was a picture, a picture of Naruto. He looked just as he did now with the exception of a few years. His face was covered in what appeared to be sauce with a bib of a pig around his neck. His arms were lifted over his head, flexing his bicep with a banner that said 'Fastest Rib Eating Champ' at the top.

Before she had even read the caption she was giggling madly. The face Naruto was making was quite comical, but painted with steak sauce it was pure humor.

"What? What is it?"

She looked up from the photograph to see inquisitiveness in his eyes, one of the wheels already taped up. A pale hand lain over her mouth in politeness as she turned around the picture so her friend could see. A light pink materialized on his cheeks.

"Geez, he kept that picture_ and_ in his desk."

She swallowed a few giggles before querying him.

"When were you the fastest rib eating champ?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassment shaded there.

"A couple of summers ago at the city fair, me, my dad and the old pervert always go to it."

Lavender hinted eyes traveled back to the picture. Still having a good bout of cheer in her, she smiled and wondered.

"What other traditions do you guys have?"

"Huh?"

Naruto's reply was combined with the action of cutting another piece of black tape.

"The pranks and the fair, they're traditions. What other things do you guys always do?"

"Oh well, let me think…"

She studied the image in her hand for a few more seconds before gazing at Naruto's concentrated expression.

"There's the picnic we do on the first day of summer."

"Picnic?"

"Yeah! We usually make a ton of food then spend the entire afternoon at the park. Nothing exciting, but it's always fun. What about you, did you guys ever do a family picnic?"

Her family having a picnic?

"No, I've never went to a picnic."

Her eyes pursued Naruto as he began taping a second wheel and grumbling about asshole fathers. She had always wanted a family tradition, but had been too full of fear to start one. Family outings were not her family's thing. Glancing once more at what was in her hand; she silently put the picture back in the open drawer.

She missed out on a lot, but that didn't mean that she couldn't try it now. She could go out to a picnic and she could enjoy the festivities of a fair. The pranks…she could probably skip.

"Alright! It's done."

Her previous thoughts shattered and her mind worked around the fact that Naruto was setting up his father's chair, all wheels taped. He gave her a small smile as he put the scissors back in the drawer and closed it.

"Not my best work, but it's something for the old man."

As if to emphasize his point he pushed the chair. The tape prevented the wheels from rolling in which made the chair stay in place. A kind smile graced her lips.

"I'm sure he'll love it."

His lips curved up as his blue eyes sparkled with delight. She was somehow reminded of the minutes of their first meeting, where his beauty ran off with her intelligence and left her a chaotic mess. But in despite of that, their morning had still been enjoyable. They found delight in their conversations just like the days after. Besides, she made a promise.

They would have fun today.

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"Think you got it?"

Part of her bottom lip was sucked in as she ran through the oral list in her head again.

"I think so."

"Alright then, hit me with your best shot!"

Her body shifted, changing the pressure on her legs that were properly folded beneath her. She began digging up some partially damp desert soil as she took a deep breath.

"_Menma_ is simmered bamboo shoots. _Chashu_ is simmered pork and _Nori_ is edible dried seaweed. There is also stir-fried bean sprouts, shredded cabbage, hard-boiled eggs and buttered corn."

"You're forgetting one," singed Naruto.

She felt her lips pull her features down in a frown. Her mind hunted for the forgotten topping. When she found the name she felt very foolish for forgetting something so easy to remember.

"Oh _Naruto_, the fishcake."

It was funny how the brain would sometimes only focus on the difficult topics and overlooks the basic.

"Correct, but I must say that I'm hurt you would forget my name. So, to make sure you don't again…pop quiz!"

Her eyes journeyed unwillingly towards Naruto who had a faux strict teacher face. She knew he meant it jokingly, but she still felt the weight of guilt when he announced his 'pain.'

"What type of noodle is made in instant packaging?"

She remembered that one easily.

"Flour."

"Correct, now what are the two types of flour?"

Hesitation was meant with this problem. She doubted the second type that flittered in her head.

"Wheat and buckwheat I think."

She knew her answer was accurate the moment that smile came to his face.

"Great job Hinata! You're becoming a fine expert."

Such praise made her feel funny, a good funny, as she blushed and bowed her head.

"Now, the soups…"

A content smile stayed on her lips as Naruto taught her about ramen.

:+:::+:::+:::+:

The handful of earth was manipulated with a single hand. Dirt fell easily through the pale fingers when it was supposed to stick and clump. The bit of land was dropped as that same hand then reached out rightward for the container of water.

"So what else did you have to learn to be in charge of your family's company?"

She tilted her head in thought as lines of water gravitated to the rainforest floor.

"Well, I was never given lessons but etiquette was necessary."

From the corner of her eye she could see his curious gaze.

"Really? What kind of etiquette?"

The flow of liquid stopped as the bucket was put to the side.

"Well, small things really, like holding the door open, sending out a thank you for a gift, arriving on time, carrying things in your left hand-"

"Left hand?"

"So your right hand is open for handshakes."

"Oh, I never thought about that, what else is there?"

She smiled at his eager tone.

"Well, you're always supposed to shut your phone off in meetings or class because any type of interruption on your part is considered rude towards the boss or teacher. Oh and there's also discretion on the streets."

"Ha! Shutting off your phone… I don't think the people in my class even know _how _to shut off their phone."

A smile graced her lips as she too thought of all the texting her peers did during lecture. It was a lost custom.

"Wait, what do you mean discretion on the streets?"

"It's impolite to draw attention to yourselves while on the streets. So that means dressing appropriately, talking kindly and behaving properly. Also men would walk on the roadside part of the sidewalk to protect the woman from traffic. Oh and the last thing...its offensive to flaunt or talk about your money."

"So does that mean that it wouldn't be gentlemanly of me to go cruising down the street in a pimped out orange convertible, wearing tons of diamonds and calling everyone I see a bitch or a hoe?"

Flabbergasted, she turned to Naruto wide-eyed. He looked as innocent as one could, except for the spark of amusement in his blue eyes. She couldn't help but crack, laughter exploding from her mouth. Her words were broken and airy, but audible enough.

"No Naruto it wouldn't."

"Damn."

:+:::+:::+:::+:

Her fingers relaxed as the now empty bucket was deposited in its original location. Once her fingers left the handle, she smothered down her dress and began to walk to the desert room's first entrance.

The day had been perfect.

Their conversations were light and carefree, filled with much laughter. The air around them was pleasant, not odd or confusing, pleasant. They seemed to forget that anything weird had happened at all. Though, she knew in reality she did not forget. Nearly three times, she had virtually let her thoughts go free to either Naruto's desirable appeal or to the future possibilities of their friendship. But she had reeled those thoughts back in fast.

Her focus stayed on their discussions. They enjoyed each other's company like she wanted; they would remain good friends after today. So why did disappointment fill her entire being? Why did she feel that she missed out on some big opportunity? Why did she feel that she was containing a part of herself, holding back something incredible?

She hadn't felt that way since before she announced to her father she wanted to be a teacher. It was a trapped feeling. Dangerous and destructive because you couldn't find a way to escape without potentially getting hurt in the process. But what was she caging?

She shook her head. The day had been simple and fun, just what she wanted. What was she doing being dissatisfied with it? She got what she wanted now be happy, she told herself. However, happiness is not what coursed through her veins.

A long sigh breathed out of her pink lips. She decided to chalk it up to the fact that she wouldn't be working with Naruto everyday and left it at that. As soon as she came to that weary verdict she had reached the desert's temperature gage. She followed the red line with her eyes to where it ended. After making sure it read a proper 73 degrees Fahrenheit, she turned to where Naruto was checking the rainforest's gage.

She smiled as she was about to query if everything was where it should be when her eyes caught his shoulder. Her eyes widen from what she saw at the same time Naruto turned to her with a smile on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.

"Don't move Naruto."

The handsome man stilled, but the thing on his shoulder kept moving. His eyes held curiosity and confusion as she slowly walked towards him.

She knew Naruto hated spiders. She wasn't too fond of the eight legged creatures either, but she had a hunch that she was far more tolerant of the arachnids.

"What are you talking-"

The spider had crawled itself to a spot that halted Naruto's words and made his eyes dart to it at lightning speed. Those blue orbs enlarged for a second before Naruto, in simple terms, freaked out.

"AAAHH! Get it off!"

"Naruto hold still!"

Her words were lost on him as he continued to flap his arms and body about. She reached out to him and in that instant a number of things occurred. His spasms made him lose balance which caused him to trip on air, falling backwards. Being airborne causes a person to blindly reach out to anything that would stabilize them, for example her outstretched hand.

She felt her body collide with his as his back hit the floor, his wide torso cushioning her fall. Even through their clothes she could feel how developed and strong his muscles were. She only felt how defined they were for a second before drops of cool water began to soak her body.

The chilly liquid shocked her system and made her scramble off of Naruto much like a cat reacting to a bath. Her joints popped as she stood and stumbled towards Naruto's prone side. Quickly, she gazed upwards to have the drops of water hitting her face then looked down at Naruto. He had evidently, grabbed the hoes meant to manually turn on the sprinklers in his other hand in the fall.

His body snapped up. Without her body protecting him he was now becoming drenched and with quick reflexes, he pulled the hoes again. In a second, the shower stopped and he looked around the room and to her guiltily.

"Whoops."

She couldn't agree more to the reaction of his accident. Bringing her hands up, she began to wipe off some of the wetness on her cheeks, eyelashes and brow.

"Are you okay?"

She put her hands down as she got a good look at the trouble that surpassed those blue orbits.

"Yes I'm fine. What about you?"

"I think I'm-"

His features screwed in pain as his sentence broke off. Worry became her main emotion as he tenderly held the back of his head as his eyes scrunched and glazed over with hurt.

"Naruto! Are you alright?"

"My head! I must have hit it."

Her motherly instincts embraced her heart as she gently seized his arm.

"Come on, you need to sit down."

She led him to the classroom and directed him to a chair. He sat down with a grimace pulling up his lips and she put a single index finger in his line of vision.

"Follow my finger."

"Why?"

A sweet smile etched her face as his head tilted in a cute way from confusion.

"I want to make sure you didn't get a concussion."

He silently agreed to her request as his iris chased after her digit back and forth, up and down. Relief swam in her body when he passed the test and she smiled. The joy was contagious as she saw his lips turn up though he was still clearly in pain.

"You're alright."

"Figured, I do have a pretty thick skull; though I'll have a killer headache for the rest of the day. Sorry about before. I didn't mean to pull you down like that."

Her cheeks turned hot when she heard the true regret in his voice.

"It's alright; I would have done the same."

"That's what I like about you."

A few locks of her lose hair shifted as she aimed her eyes to his. Her heart began to flutter like crazy when she saw a calm sense of admiration pointed towards her.

"W-What do you mean Naruto?"

His eyes rested with the connection their orbs had made, seemingly staring straight through her.

"You're always so understanding. You don't get mad when someone screws up or does something wrong, you try to see it from their point of view. It's very commendable."

Her body shut down at those words. She should have been blushing through all the colors of the rainbow by that compliment. It was insightful and earnest, an honest praise of her character. But instead of turning into the stammering introvert she is, her entire being froze. That weird sensation from the day before ran through her body, pumping her heart and becoming her main essence. She couldn't concentrate on anything but the specks of varying hues of blue in his eyes.

Cobalt, sapphire, navy, ultramarine, royal, azure…

She wanted to dive into that pool of blue, collect all those beautiful color fragments and spend the rest of her days studying them.

"I should get going."

His soft voice seemed to turn her body back on. She took a longer than normal blink, her heart slamming hard against her chest while she felt winded and wobbly.

"I promised Kiba to meet him at the gym today."

Slowly he stood. She did not reach out to help, still not sure how her body was functioning. He then looked at her with a hint of uncertainty.

"Can I call you tomorrow, I mean is it alright if I do?"

A choked sound came out of her lips. Horrified by the unintended reaction, she swallowed to help relieve her throat that now felt like sandpaper and spoke.

"S-Sure."

He smiled a brilliant smile.

"Cool, so I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Wordlessly, she nodded her head as that smile grew even more remarkable. He turned and began to walk towards the exit. When he went to open the door she shockingly realized she had more to say.

"Wait Naruto!"

Just as the door was pulled opened, he rotated back towards her.

"Thank you."

The once questioning look quickly turned to a full smile with grateful eyes.

"No, thank you."

And with those words he departed. Hypnotized, she stared at the door even as she fell in the chair that Naruto had occupied. She couldn't help but think that in that moment, he was the most magnificent thing she had ever seen. The way that a few damp strands of his bright golden hair clung and curled to his face, how a few drops of stray water would fall over the slopes and depressions of his skin. That smile displaying perfect teeth and nicely curved soft lips. And those eyes, sparkling with exquisite blues as they came alive. Even his shirt, wet and adhering to his muscles made him look god-like.

That's when it hit her.

The reason…the explanation for everything. It justified the attraction, the strange feelings and moments, the disappointment, the want to be near him and stay connected with him in some way. It rationalized all of it.

But instead of feeling liberation, a sense of doom washed over her.

She had fallen in love with Naruto.

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A/N: Alright first, I want to clear up any confusion my readers might feel about the last sentence. Before this chapter Hinata knew that she was attracted to Naruto and thought of him as a potential boyfriend, however she did not know that she was in LOVE with Naruto. She just realized how deep her feelings for Naruto are.

Seen as how this was their last day working together, this was technically the last chapter. Wait! Wait don't get mad though. The epilogue will wrap everything up. It should be posted in a week if not sooner.

Thank you for reading. :)


	7. Epilogue

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Epilogue

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Bent forward she rested her weight on her left hand as her right threaded and worked on the soil beneath her. Pleased with the moisture content she leant back, her lower back finding some relief from not continuing the bent position. She sat with her legs on each side of hip, looking around and analyzing all of the rainforest plants.

Minato had left a couple of minutes prior when the phone had rung. She didn't know who he was chatting with in the other room, but figured it to be an important matter for he had not returned.

The botanist professor was always good company and she did greatly enjoy their talks, but she must secretly admit that she really missed working with his son. It had been two weeks since Naruto was no longer needed at the greenhouse. Minato had reappeared from his conference, looked at his pulled out chair, sighed and began to take the tape off. After that welcome, he then began to get to work on finals. The exams were two weeks away and if the stress of the tests were not enough, she also had to find a job.

She remembered voicing her pressure to Naruto's father. He had announced to her that she would already hold a job as his Undergraduate Education Assistant in the upcoming fall if she so desired. She took the opportunity, ecstatic that she would work for him during the school year. Of course, that did not expunge her predicament for the summer.

Tenten and she had gotten an apartment nearby that they would live in during their school vacation. She could not go back home as part of the agreement with her father about doing a teaching degree and she asked Tenten the favor of rooming with her to split the rent. The brunette eagerly agreed, not wanting to spend any more time than necessary with her aunt who she lived with and disagreed with regularly.

Though that did cut her expenses considerably, she still had food and clothes as well as books for the fall to account for. With the way things were adding up it appeared that she would have to obtain two (maybe three) jobs. She _needed _to find something.

Her body was extremely tense and sore from all the emotional strain of school and money. She wished that Naruto was here. He had this power over her. Just the sound of his voice could soothe her.

She couldn't help but wonder if that was a side-effect of love.

It was a difficult thing for her to accept. Not the fact that it was_ him _that she loved, but that she was in love. She had no experience in the room of romance so how could she be guaranteed that it was that feeling everyone dreams of having. Not only was there that, but the short time in which that strong emotion was created…unbelievable. In just one week, she had fallen in love with Naruto.

She could say that now, at least in her head.

The only hindrance to this belief was the truly horrifying feeling that came with it. She had no notion if Naruto felt an ounce of what she felt. They had talked on the phone close to everyday since they stopped taking care of the greenhouse as a unit. Friendly chats almost identical to the ones they had shared working together. It was those talks that convinced her she really was in love with him, but she never got the implication from him that he felt something for her.

He most certainty had moved on from Sakura. He didn't outright say it, but she knew. Especially, after he went to lunch with her and her boyfriend Sasuke and stated that though the guy was a bastard, he seemed to really care for his pink haired friend and that was all that mattered.

But even though his heart was repaired it did not denote that he was prepared to give it away again. Much less to _her_. She hadn't set eyes on him since that Saturday. He hadn't set foot in the greenhouse since that day; the closest he physically got to it was a couple of days ago when he called his dad. They had not made any plans over their devices to met and hang out and she was beginning to fear that they never would.

"Slacking on the job are we?"

Her brain reduced down to mush when she heard that voice. That was not Minato. Spinning around as fast as the eye could see, her sight ended on the man she had not expected to see.

"N-Naruto?"

He gave her that smile that she had missed dearly.

"In the flesh."

Swiftly, she stood and wiped her soil covered hands on her dark jeans and light gray shirt. He looked just as handsome as she remembered. Tall, dark and blonde with a killer smile. His shoulders were still wide, filling out that white shirt with a red spiral in the center beautifully. And his eyes... Dear heaven how she had craved those blue depths.

"W-What are you doing here?"

His smile did not falter and he decreased the space between them another step.

"Well, I called my dad the other day to see if you had anything going on today and seen as you didn't I thought I would surprise you with something."

Her tongue ran over her suddenly dry bottom lip. So that's why Minato had asked her if she was free Friday.

"A surprise?"

"More of a thank you actually."

She felt the skin on her brow wrinkle in puzzlement.

"A thank you?"

Blue eyes darken with appreciation and another emotion she could not place.

"For being there when I needed someone and helping me get over Sakura. And as corny as it sounds, being my friend."

The temperature of her skin rose as she tried to swallow a bountiful of emotion. Sentiments like that didn't come too often her way and her heart filled with that weird feeling she discovered as love. He looked so sincere too. If she didn't speak now, her eyes would begin to tear up.

"W-What's the surprise?"

The fun light in his eyes and smile returned.

"A picnic!"

"A picnic?"

He nodded his head eagerly.

"Made it all myself this morning. There's an area a few blocks away I thought we could walk to and eat it there."

Her throat tightened. He had made an entire picnic for her as a thank you for being good to him. Her heart was touched, but her brain couldn't help but calculate that the idea was romantic. With a great deal of sadness she tried to smash that thought. He said thank you for being his _friend_.

"Y-You didn't need to go through all that trouble Naruto."

"But I wanted to! I wanted to make it up to you and seen as how you've never been to one I thought a picnic would be a good idea," his smile dimmed. "But if you don't want to…"

"No!"

The exclamation tore through her lips, involuntarily and loud. She had the decency to blush.

"I-I didn't mean it l-like that. Of course I want to go on a picnic with you; I love your company and your food."

"Oh t-thanks."

A shade of pink draped his cheeks as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. He was embarrassed just like the other times she had complemented his culinary skills. Remorseful of the crime an apology formed on her tongue.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to embarrass you."

Blue eyes blinked at her in slight surprise as cheeks darken.

"It's not your fault it's just…"

His mouth stopped working as his eyes quickly darted to the corner before returning back to her. The way that he kept chewing his lip showed that he was self-conscious and his eyes sought understanding edged with that unknown emotion of before.

"It's silly I know," he laughed. "But when I was a kid I told my dad that the first girl to call me a great cook would be my future wife."

She stopped breathing. Her heart and mind halted along with it. His…his…his future… She could not have heard right!

"It's stupid I know. I was a kid, I didn't know any better. I had told that to my dad a lot."

Slow and light-headed, she lifted her eyes to his. He did say that! He was still clearly embarrassed but that other feeling stayed in his eyes. Her lungs took in a huge amount of air when she saw that. Beating also resumed in her chest as her mind tried to link things together. She knew what he said was not a proposal or come-on, but he revealed that the thought had crossed his mind. The courage was not in her to tell him the depth of her feelings, but perhaps she could conquer her reserved character for a hint.

"I only said it because I thought it was true."

Some of the discomfit in his stance relaxed as a smile grew on his face from her soft voice.

"I know."

They stood there for awhile smiling, his big, hers tiny. That weird air acclimated around; awkward, but strangely pleasant at the same time. She could have let her eyes wander over his face forever, but she was anxious from whatever had transpired. Quickly, she looked at one of the plants at her side.

"I still have to-"

"Don't worry about that."

Pale eyes ventured back to blue. Naruto's smile was even bigger than before and there was an excitement that lit up his eyes.

"I told my dad and he has no problem wrapping things up. The stuff is in my car, so I'll meet you out front okay?"

Mutely, she nodded her head. Enthusiasm captured his body as he practically jumped and began sprinting towards the exit. He made a fast turnaround though, as he then ran back towards her just as rapidly. Startled by the quick action, she could only stare with wide eyes as he grasped each of her hands in his own, his blue eyes gazing intently at her.

"Thank you again."

After the gratitude slipped from his mouth, he leaned down and placed his lips on her skin. The kiss was brief and she soon saw him smile at her, let go of her hands and then leave. Dazed, she just stood there. She tried to get her mind to function but couldn't.

He had kissed her.

It wasn't a passion filled one on the lips, but it hinted at something. Bit by bit, she lifted her hand to the spot on her face where Naruto had left his burning touch. The left corner of her mouth. Not quite the lips of a lover, but not the cheek of a friend. A dorky smile erupted on her face as her hand dropped from the place where she was first intimately touched.

She didn't quite remember when she began walking, but she made her way through the classroom like a dream. She didn't even comprehend the knowing smile of Minato as she reached the door. Unconscious of her actions, she opened the door as a rush of warm air hit her. Reality slowly began to descend as she looked at the world of green around her scattered with the white, pink, yellow, purple and red colors of the bloomed flowers. A settle breeze cast by and she inhaled the spirit of life.

Her eyes took in the framework of some of the buildings shaded by massive trees before her sight landed on a blonde man walking her way with a basket in hand. Pure joy excited her nerves as her pink lips arched into an enormous smile. Naruto returned the gesture and set his pace to a jog.

She loved spring.

:+:::+:::+:::+:

A/N: And that's the end! I hope the epilogue was decent enough for all of you. It's somewhat of an opening ending, but we all have a good idea what direction it's going in. I want to thank everyone who read, favorite, alerted and reviewed my story. I had wished to receive 35 reviews and 20 favorites by the end and I'm beyond thrilled that has been exceeded. XD

A special thank you to darktank, Kiba Inubake, Rose Tiger, -HoPeLeSsRoMaNtIc-29- and The Raven's Flute for all of the support.


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